Category: succulents

Orbea variegata

Common names: Boekies, Bokhoring, Aasblom, Toad plant, Cape Fritillary, Carrion flower.

This was the first stapeliad to reach Europe from South Africa, which probably at least partly explains the enormous number of synonyms. It is also one of the most widely cultivated stapeliads and is found in many subtropical areas as a garden escapee.
In the wild it is widespread in the southwestern Cape, mainly along the coast from Lambert’s Bay to Humansdorp, but also in the southern Great Karoo as well as the Little Karoo. It generally occurs on stony slopes, often under shrubs.

The stems are mostly erect, to 15 x 1 cm (excluding the teeth), obtuse or conspicuously 4-angled,
green with purple-brown markings. They form clumps usually up to 20 cm across, but sometimes up to over 1 m.
The flowers appear in Dec.-Sept., usually one per stem. They smell of carrion, which attracts the flies by which they are pollinated. The corolla is 4.5-8 cm in diameter and very variable in colour: inside cream to greenish-yellow, with rather large, purple-brown dots; the annulus is usually paler yellow and more finely dotted.

Photos taken 13 March 2019 on Zolani-Bonnievale road.

Crassula elegans ssp. elegans

This widespread and often locally common taxon occurs from southwestern Namibia to near Vanrhynsdorp on sandy/ gravelly/rocky slopes and flats, often under bushes.

It is a dwarf plant 1-8 cm tall, usually with many short branches and forming small tufts.
As shown by the pictures, the leaves are highly variable in shape, size, colour and texture; they are very thick, 0.3-1.5 x 0.3-1 cm in size and usually egg- to lance-shaped with blunt tips, green, grey-green, brown to deep red, sometimes even white.
Most often the leaves are smooth, but sometimes covered with papillae or fine hairs. They are irregularly arranged (not in 4 obvious ranks), with invisible internodes; eventually they shrivel up completely but they remain attached to the stems.
The small flowers are cream or white and appear in Dec.-June.

 

 

 

 

 

Mesembryanthemum barklyi (olifantsoutslaai)

Plants of this species are the largest in the genus and are sometimes nicknamed “elephant’s toilet paper” because of the enormous leaves. As a rule, they occur on sandy plains in southwestern Namibia and northwestern Namaqualand.
Although their lifespan is usually not more than two years, they may reach a height of 1.5 m.
At first, the plant forms a rosette of leaves with flowering side branches, after which the internodes in the rosette elongate and form new rosettes and flowering branches.
Usually the stems are clearly 4-angled and winged, up to as much as 4 cm in diameter.
The leaves are egg-shaped to triangular, with more or less undulating margins; they are very large (lower ones up to 40 x 25 cm), with small bladder-cells.
Flowers appear in Sept.-Nov.; they are 4-6 cm across, pink to pale pink, with a white or slightly green base and very numerous petals, staminodes and stamens. The fruits have 5 compartments.

Crassula pyramidalis

Although this species is widespread from the southern Great Karoo and the Montagu area to Somerset East, it is rarely common. It most often grows in shallow soil on rocky outcrops, on gravelly slopes and in crevices; usually on a north/north-east facing aspect.

As the pictures show, the plants are very variable.
Most often, the stems are erect, only rarely decumbent*. They are completely covered by the leaves, which are arranged in four neat ranks so that a quadrangular column is formed. This may be 0.6-2 cm in diameter and up to 25 cm tall (usually much shorter). Once a stem has flowered, it dies back, but new ones are formed at the base.
The leaves are green to grey-green or reddish-brown and the flowers white or cream-coloured.
Flowering time is spring: Aug.-Oct.

* creeping on the ground with the tips raised.
Synonyms: C. quadrangula, C. cylindrica, C. archeri.

Gibbaeum petrense (Klipvygie)

As this species is easy to grow, it is often encountered in cultivation. In nature it is restricted to a narrow band along the northern foothills of the Langeberg Mountains, where it is locally abundant in shallow clayey soil rich in quartzite pebbles.
The plants form tufts -often 5 to 10 cm across- of densely crowded leaves, with rather sharp edges  and convex sides. They are firm to the touch and greyish to greenish in colour.
In Aug.­-Oct. they produce dark pink to light purple flowers, about 1.5 cm in diameter.

 

 

 

Glottiphyllum cruciatum

Cruciatum means cross-shaped, referring to the way the leaves are arranged. They are more or less erect, have pointed and often reddened tips and are widened towards the base.
The flowers have long stalks and are about 6 cm across; they appear in May-July.
Characteristic for the fruits are the disintegrating stalks and the very high tops (resembling an acorn).
The plants usually grow under shrubs in sandy/gravelly loam, often together with G. linguiforme and G. carnosum; they are locally abundant, but restricted to only a few sites in the Little Karoo (Oudtshoorn – Calitzdorp area).

Euphorbia nesemannii

In general, this species is similar to E. mammillaris or heptagona, but it combines a very short main stem with a tuberous main root, so that it forms a roughly cylindrical body which is almost completely hidden in the ground.
The branches are more or less upright, 1-3 cm in diameter and 8-40 (-70) cm long; they have 6-14 angles, with or without weak spines which -if present- are spreading and 1-2.5 cm long.
The plants flower in March-August and are found in open scrubland on lower gravelly slopes in the Worcester-Montagu-Swellendam area.
As witnessed by the pictures, the plants may be very variable, depending on the habitat conditions.

Pelargonium magenteum (incl. P. rhodanthum)

The softly woody branches  of these shrubs bear heart shaped to roundish leaves 0.5-2 cm in diameter, velvety hairy and greyish green, with a coarsely toothed margin.
In May-October the plants put forth inflorescences, each with 2-9 flowers about 2 cm across; the petals are pink to mauve to deep magenta, with dark purple spots and stripes.
The species is widespread from Vanrhynsdorp to Montagu and Calitzdorp, usually on rocky outcrops. As the shrubs become up to 1 m tall, they make great garden plants in a suitable climate.

 

 

 

 

 

A jewel in the Crassula crown: C. deceptor

Some forms of this species are among the most beautiful that Crassula has to offer and in such a big genus with many attractive species, that’s quite something.  As the pictures show, the plants are variable in many respects, especially shape, size and arrangement of the leaves.

When not in flower, the plants are up to 8 cm tall, often with several short branches.  Each branch forms a short, 4-angled column up to 2.5 cm in diameter, bearing closely packed leaves which are 0.6-1.5 (-2) cm long and 0.3-1 (1.5) cm wide.
The leaves are acute or obtuse, flat or slightly concave above and very convex below, somewhat boat-shaped and densely covered with hard, almost spherical papillae.
Old leaves will shrivel a lot, but stay attached to the branches.
In December-March the plants produce miniature flowers in small clusters on peduncles 2-8 cm long.
The species is widely distributed in south-western Namibia and in north-western South Africa as far east as Kakamas and south to Vanrhynsdorp, usually on gentle slopes or on rocky outcrops, often among quartz gravel.

Antegibbaeum fissoides

The genus Antegibbaeum contains only this species. It is endemic to the western part of the Little Karoo, where it may occur in great numbers, usually on clayey soil in quartz patches and often accompanied by Gibbaeums.
At first sight, the plants are very similar to those of Argyroderma fissum. They are branched from the base, with upright or flat-growing stems, forming clumps up to 18 cm across.
The leaves of each pair are slightly unequal, greyish-green, sometimes reddish.
Older leaves are often covered in an unsightly black fungus (also see Cerochlamys).
The flowers have short stalks and are deep pink to violet-red; they are to 6 cm in diameter and appear in in late winter and early spring: August-September.
Common names for this species are volstruistone (ostrich toes) and bobbejaanvingertjies (baboon fingers).


With Gibbaeum petrense