Category: succulents

Lampranthus haworthii (1)

With its large shiny flowers, it is small wonder that this species is often seen in South African gardens.
The plants form robust dense woody shrubs up to 60-70 cm and sometimes even taller. They have light grey-green, more or less cylindrical leaves, 2-4 cm long. The purplish tips of the leaves are quite characteristic.
The flowers are white or pink to light purple with a white base and are up to 8 cm in diameter. They appear in Spring (June – early October).
The species occurs often in considerable numbers  throughout the Little Karoo and northwestward to Clanwilliam.

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Meyerophytum meyeri

These peculiar plants produce leaves of two kinds: the first pairs of the season are egg shaped, forming a bilobed body; the second ones are much longer than wide, with the leaves free for about two thirds of their length.
The plants are cushion-shaped and up to about 30 cm in diameter. They are found from the Richtersveld to southern Namaqualand, in loamy soil, often with quartz pebbles.
The flowers appear in winter and are either dark pink throughout, or rose with a white base, or white (turning pink with age).

The first two pictures were taken 6 Sept. 2010 (look at the Crassula elegans and Conophytum saxetanum keeping the first plant company)

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The flowering plants were photographed 11 July 2011

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Mesembryanthemum (Psilocaulon) junceum

Almost all Mesembs are leaf succulents, but this species is an exception.
On young stems, leaves are present for a short period, but they fall off as soon as the dry period sets in. The leaves are small but at the same time quite succulent. One would think it to be wasteful to invest a lot of energy in producing something that is used for only a short while. Nevertheless it seems to be a successful strategy, as the species is widespread and often locally abundant. They act as pioneers on disturbed loamy soils and that probably explains how they can afford to be wasteful with their resources. The disturbance will in most cases aerate the soil and make nutrients available, so that for some time food is present in abundance.
The plants may be up to 60 cm tall and occur from Namaqualand to the Eastern Cape.
The flowers are white, pink or purple, up to 1.5 cm across and appear in spring (September- November).

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Pelargonium nervifolium (1)

Apparently not all experts agree on what is a succulent and what is not. The subject of this post e.g. is mentioned in the List of Southern African Succulent Plants (1997), but not in the Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants (2002).
Well, whether a succulent or not, it is an interesting tuberous geophyte ( a plant that has its regenerating buds below soil-level, often with big underground storage organs and short-lived growth above ground).
The leaves are undivided or divided into 3 leaflets.
In September-October the plants are decorated with white to pale yellow flowers about 1.7 cm across – up to 17 in each inflorescence.
The plants are widespread in the winter rainfall area of the western Karoo, southwards to Karoopoort and Matjiesfontein, usually on low shale ridges in direct sunlight and often in large numbers.

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Trichodiadema mirabile

The genus name is derived from Greek trix = hair and diadema = crown. This refers to the tuft of stiff hairs or bristles present on the tips of leaves and sepals.
The diadem is believed to be able to absorb dew and rain water. This idea is supported by the fact that in cultivation, where there is usually much more water available to the plants, the diadem is often not well developed.
The crown of hairs can be removed as a whole and is the most characteristic property of the genus. In spite of this, diadems are not present in all species, nor do they all look the same. In most cases the diadem consists of radiating hairs, but in a few species the diadem is a tuft of erect bristles. T. mirabile is a case in point.
The species forms an erect shrublet up to 8 cm tall. The beautiful, pure white flowers are up to 4 cm in diameter and appear from October to January.
The plants can be found on stony slopes from the Laingsburg area to Uitenhage.

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Crassula congesta (2)

In his revision of the genus Crassula (see yesterday’s post), Toelken makes the following remark with regard to the 2 subspecies: “…it is significant that each one can be identified without hesitation. No plants with intermediate characters have been recorded..”

To my mind, there is little doubt that the next picture shows ssp. congesta.

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But the plants in the next two ones look like intermediate forms to me.

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The last picture was taken just south of Calitzdorp and shows what I think is a hybrid between Crassula  congesta ssp. laticephala (which was not found on this particular spot, but does occur in the general area) and C. columnaris (which was growing close by).

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