Although this species usually develops into a much-branched, 1-2 m tall shrub with erect stems, it will sometimes form a small tree.
The tough leaves are densely hairy, grey-green to reddish brown above and green to silvery beneath, egg-shaped to lance-shaped, 5 – 15 x 3.5 – 10 cm, with an acute tip and entire margin.
Inflorescences of up to a meter tall produce yellow flowers which are erect or spreading, up to 1.3 cm long, urn-shaped to 4-angled and very fleshy.
All in all this is a very attractive species, especially when the young leaves are bronze coloured; it is slow growing but easy to cultivate and propagate.
Occurring in Southwestern Madagascar, usually at altitudes up to about 800 m.
C. cotyledonis is very widespread and displays a great variation in size and shape of the leaves (even within the same population).
The plants form a basal rosette and usually only a few branches up to about 20 cm tall. The leaves are broadly lance-shaped to broadly egg-shaped (narrower in the Karoo) and flattened but somewhat convex above and below; they are grey-green to yellowish green, 3 – 6 (-9) cm long and 1-2.5 (-3.5) cm wide, densely covered with coarse recurved hairs (a good way to recognize the species). On the margins the hairs are longer.
The tube-shaped flowers are cream to pale yellow and appear from September to January; they are arranged in dense round clusters.
Occurring from southwestern Namibia to the Little Karoo and the Eastern Cape; usually on gravelly slopes and outcrops among rocks and bushes.
Kalanchoe delagoensis is sometimes regarded in quite different ways. Those who Google Kalanchoe tubiflora (the name under which the plant is better known), will find both “How to grow Kalanchoe tubiflora” and “How to kill Kalanchoe tubiflora”. The latter is not intended for the many plant lovers who consider this plant to be weeds in their greenhouses, but for use in the many areas of the world where the plant has started to grow and poses a threat to livestock because of its toxicity. More on this later in this article.
There are also differences of opinion about what is the correct name for this plant.
For starters, Bryophyllum is very often chosen as the genus name. This name aptly reflects the property of the plants in question to produce miniature plants on the margin of the leaves that detach easily and then quickly develop into powerfully growing plants. Others choose to consider Bryophyllum as a section in the genus Kalanchoe.
The origin of the name of the genus Kalanchoe (described by the French botanist Michel Adanson in 1783) is not at all clear. Maybe it’s a phonetic transcription of the Chinese jia lan cai shu (I also came across kalan chau huy) and this would have been corrupted to Kalanchoe. Jia lan cai shu is said to be the name of a species occurring in China, possibly K. ceratophylla or K. spathulata. Searching the internet, I found out that nowadays the Chinese name for Kalanchoe is also Jia lan cai shu(see Flora of China 8: 204–205. 2001), so I wonder if it is not the other way around, to wit that the Chinese name is a corruption of the botanical name.
Other sources refer to the names from Sanskrit kalańka-, “stain” or ” rust”, and chāyā, “clear” which would refer to the leaves of the Indian species K. laciniata.
I also read somewhere that kalan chau huy would mean “that which falls and grows” which would be a perfect description of the plants of the Bryophyllum section. But this seems like “wishful thinking.” All species of the Bryophyllum section occur naturally exclusively in Madagascar which is very far away from China.
With regard to the species name, it should first be noted that “delagoensis” refers to Delagoa Bay (now Maputo Bay) near the capital Maputo of Mozambique (until 1975, when Mozambique became independent from Portugal, called Lourenço Marques). A surprising name for a plant that originates from Madagascar which is located some 1200 km from Delagoa. In order to understand the discussion properly, it is necessary to look into history.
It started in February 1822, when the British royal ship, the “Leven” (equipped with 28 cannons) under the command of Captain William Fitzwilliam Owen, together with the accompanying ship the Barracouta (10 cannons), embarked on a 5-year expedition to map the entire east coast of Africa as well as Madagascar and other islands in the area. The entire expedition is described in detail in a report published in 1833 (2 books, together almost 850 pages) by Captain Owen. Two years later, a similar but even more extensive report, by Second Lieutenant Thomas Boteler (2 books, 900 pages) was published. Onboard the Leven was the young botanist John Forbes, dispatched by the British Horticultural Society. Via Lisbon, Madeira, Tenerife, the Cape Verde Islands, Trinidad, Rio de Janeiro, and the Cape of Good Hope, the ship reached Delagoa Bay for the first time at the end of September of the same year. In Rio de Janeiro alone, the tireless Forbes had already collected more than 300 plants for his herbarium, in addition to numerous seeds and rhizomes.
In later years Delagoa became a kind of base from which all kinds of expeditions were undertaken. It was regularly reported that the many mosquitoes kept the people who were ashore awake. More and more people also became ill. There was no knowledge of malaria and the only treatment known against the mysterious fever was bloodletting.
When no less than 19 of the 60 crew members had died at the beginning of December 1822, Captain Owen decided to head for Madagascar. On December 5, the ship departed and on December 21 they arrived at St. Mary’s Island (Île Sainte-Marie) on the eastern side of Madagascar. On January 8, the Leven left for the much more northerly Comoros, and sailing along the coast of Mozambique they were back in Delagoa Bay at the beginning of March 1823. During a stay in Cape Town in May 1823, Lieutenant Browne, botanist Forbes, and assistant physician Kilpatrick volunteered for an expedition upstream from the mouth of the Zambezi River. The intention was to go upstream for some 600 miles and then try to cross to the Cape of Good Hope. With a large canoe and 2 ‘black’ helpers, they entered the estuary on July 23. Forbes fell ill on August 3. Several bloodlettings were to no avail and on August 16 he died, aged 25. Soon after, both of his comrades fell ill too. Browne died on September 5 and Kilpatrick on October 28. The two helpers were also sick but survived.
Captain Owen, meanwhile, was already at Delagoa, where he raised the British flag on the south coast in September. At the bay 4 rivers flow into the sea and he realized the importance of this large natural harbour. Until 1875, this was discussed with the Portuguese who finally got the better end of the stick.
We now jump to the years 1835 – 1837. Then the botanist duo Ecklon & Zeyher (the Dane Christian Friedrich Ecklon and the German Karl Ludwig Philipp Zeyher) published a three-volume book on the vegetable world of southern Africa entitled ‘Enumeratio Plantarum Africae Australis Extratropicae’. In part 3 (1837) we find the following ‘description’:
“KALANCHOE delagoensis. — Exemplum unicum et mutilum Cel. Commodore Owen ad „Delagoabay” legit et nobiscum communicavit. Flor. Jun. — Flores saturate rosei JUN. 1836”.
Mind you, this is the full text. The actual description only consists of the 3 words: Flores saturate rosei. In any case, it can be seen from the text that there was only one mutilated (damaged) specimen and that it ended up at Ecklon &Zeyher via Captain Owen from Delagoabay. I then assume that this happened after Forbes died in August 1823.
For me, the question now is when and where botanist Forbes found the plant. Like all Kalanchoes, K. delagoensis is a short-day plant and it blooms in winter. In the southern hemisphere that’s the case between May and October. Forbes was first in Delagoa from early September to December 5. If the plant had been in bloom at the time, why would botanist Forbes have kept that cutting on board for more than six months? He had a habit of sending all his planting material to England. After the first stay, Forbes was not back in Delagoa until early March 1823. Then the plant is probably not yet in bloom. So how could he have found a flowering plant in Delagoa? Maybe he didn’t find it until July when he was preparing for the expedition upstream along the Zambezi River?
Forbes’ notes may provide more clarification about the find, but they are lodged with the Horticultural Society and are not available on the internet.
In 1862, 25 years after the description of Ecklon & Zeyher, the Irish botanist William Henry Harvey (1811-1866) in the Flora Capensis published the same plant under the name Bryophyllum tubiflorum. Harvey knew the earlier description of Ecklon & Zeyher (he also worked with Ecklon), but according to him this description was invalid and Kalanchoe delagoensis was therefore a so-called nomen nudum, a name without a valid description. Harvey not only chose to place the plant in the genus Bryophyllum because the flowers have only 4 petals, but he also changed the species name delagoensis to tubiflorum. Thinking that the plant should have a different genus name may be understandable, but changing the species name without a proper reason is, in my opinion, very disrespectful to your predecessors. The following is his description: B. tubiflorum (Harv.) ; leaves unknown; corolla thrice or four times as long as the sharply 4-cleft calyx, its segments broadly oblong, very blunt or truncate ; stamens as long as the tube of the corolla. Kalanchoe Delagoensis, E. $ Z.! 1955. HAB. Delagoa Bay, Forbes! (Herb. Sond.) Of this very remarkable plant a portion of a denuded branch, and a part of a dense, probably thyrsoid, inflorescence exist in Herb. Sonder. The internodes are scarcely an inch long, and there are 4 cicatrices, indicating whorled leaves, at each node. calyx 3 lines long. corolla uncial, bright red, its lobes almost square, 2½ lines long.
This description shows that Harvey described exactly the same damaged specimen as Ecklon &Zeyher. We are also briefed on the nature of the damage: the material consists only of a defoliated stem (“leaves unknown”) and part of the inflorescence. If Harvey had seen the tubular leaves, he might have called the plant B. tubifolia instead of B. tubiflora. Tubular flowers are not uncommon in kalanchoe-like plants, but tubular leaves may be unique. For the truly curious among the readers: “Herb. Sond”. in the description above refers to the herbarium of the German botanist Otto Wilhelm Sonder, co-author of the Flora Capensis.
More than a century later, in 1985, Toelken argued that the 3 words of Ecklon & Zeyher were enough to distinguish the plant from its closest relatives so that, according to him, because the name K. delagoensis was the first published one, it should be considered the valid one, rendering the name B. tubiflorum of Harvey invalid. It’s called a nomen invalidum.
There is also Kalanchoe verticillata, described by George Francis Scott-Elliot in 1891 (later renamed Bryophyllum verticillatum by Alwin Berger). According to current views, this is synonymous with Kalanchoe delagoensis.
The stems of K. delagoensis become up to 1.2 m tall and the cylindrical leaves are 1.5 to 12 cm long and 2-6 mm in diameter. The number of teeth at the tip of the leaves is 2 to 9. The terminal inflorescence reaches a height of 30 cm. The bell-shaped flowers are brick-red to reddish violet-gray and 2 to 3 cm long.
Kalanchoes are short-day plants, and the flower-stalk begins to develop around mid-November in my greenhouse.
The plant puts all it has into this flowering and deteriorates dramatically during it. From the top of the plant down, the leaves are ‘drained’ and they start drooping more and more. By the time the plant has finished flowering -this can take some five weeks- there is only little left of it. But, in that pathetic little pile there are still many adventitious plantlets which under favorable conditions will quickly develop into new plants.
With this plant, it seems completely unnecessary to discuss its growing conditions. Nevertheless, I would like to point out that you get the most beautifully developed plants by giving it a lot of light (but not sun all day). It is also not wise to let the plant dry out. It will survive, but it’s definitely not going to get any prettier. It seems that the plant can tolerate a bit of frost. I never tried it.
As mentioned above, the Bryophyllums come from Madagascar and in particular the southwest. F. Vandenbroeck describes in Succulenta that the plant grows noticeably more poorly and stockier in Madagascar’s natural biotopes than in our collections. There were hardly any adventitious plantlets to be seen and the plants did not grow rank. Moreover, the flower colour was much brighter than with us.
Thanks to its phenomenal power of reproduction, K delagoensis has spread all over the world. For example, in the Canary Islands, where I have often found the plant escaped from nearby gardens and from the craving of the garden owners to regulate, much like Crassula multicava discussed earlier in this series.
In many countries, the plant is on the list of weeds. The plant became established in the Australian states of New South Wales and Queensland around 1940. As a short-day plant, K. delagoensis also blooms there in winter (from May to October) which is the dry season and therefore also a time of food shortages. As a result, the cattle often feast upon this very plant, which can result in deadly poisoning. (For the specialists: the poison belongs to the bufadienolide cardiac glycosides). The animals die within 1 to 5 days. In New South Wales, for example, 125 animals died after eating this Kalanchoe in 1997. Rapid intervention by a veterinarian can save the cattle, but that is a pricey issue. Medication for 1 cow costs $70 and this does not include the fee for the vet. That is why no mean measures have been taken.
The legal requirement is: “The plant must be fully and continuously suppressed and destroyed and the plant must not be sold, propagated or knowingly distributed”.
Owning or selling the plant is an offense unless you have a permit. The same measures apply to the hybrid K. daigremontiana x delagoensis (Kalanchoe x houghtonii). This hybrid is very similar to the mother plant K. daigremontiana, but the leaves are much narrower, about 1 cm rather than 4 cm. A characteristic of this hybrid is the sharp incision in the middle of the leaf.
Pest control is done with herbicides and also organically with the South African citrusthrips. A weevil, Alcidodes sedi, is also sometimes used for biological control.
For a plant that is spread worldwide, of course, many names are in circulation. In English e.g.: Chandelier plant, mother of thousands, mother of millions, mission bells, Christmas bells, and friendly neighbour. The latter probably will not be endorsed by the cattle farmers in Australia.
Literature:
Boteler, Thomas (1835). Narrative of a voyage of discovery to Africa and Arabia, Richard Bentley, London.
Ecklon & Zeyher (1837). Kalanchoe delagoensis, Enumeratio Plantarum Africae Australis Extratropicae: 305.
Harvey & Sonder (1862) Flora Capensis 2: 380.
Owen, W.F.W. (1833). Narrative of voyages to explore the shores of Africa, Arabia, and Madagascar, Richard Bentley, London.
Vandenbroeck, F. (1984). De bizarre succulentenwereld van Madagascar, Succulenta 63 (9): 201
Originally published in Succulenta Febr. 2012. Translated from the Dutch by F.N.
Fig. 1 The plants produce miniature plants on the edge of the leaves.
Fig. 2 If the humidity is not too low, little roots develop on the adventitious plantlets even while these are still attached to the mother plant.Fig. 3 Top view of a K. delagoensis with adventitious plantlets.Fig. 4 K. delagoensis has 2 to 9 teeth at the tip of a leaf.
Fig. 5 Anyone who sees K. delagoensis in bloom can hardly imagine that many consider it a troublesome weed.
Fig. 6,7,8 In habitat near Ambovombe. Photos F.N.
(Other photos by Theo Heijnsdijk)
Crassula multicava (Fig. 1) is a sparsely branched plant with fleshy stems up to about 30 cm long and 1 cm thick. Long stems lie down and form new roots and branches from the leaf axils. The leathery leaves are up to 6,5 cm long and 4 cm wide. Towards the stem, each leaf narrows down to a petiole (leaf stalk), which is fused with that of the opposite leaf, giving the impression that the stem has grown through them. C. multicava occurs in South Africa (Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape) and was described by Lemaire as early as 1872. Multicava means: with many cavities. This refers to the upper side of the leaf, which is littered with many round dimples, somewhat like an orange (see Fig. 2 below),
Fig. 2 (giving rise to the name ‘Pitted Crassula’. The dimples are so-called hydathodes, a name for glands that can excrete moisture. Such glands occur in many plant genera and can be of different anatomical origins. In Crassulas, they are converted stomata. As a rule, hydathodes are intended to get rid of excess moisture, but that sounds rather strange for succulents, who need to lose as little moisture as possible. Gordon Rowley in his book ‘Crassula’ suggests the possibility that during the day when temperatures are very high, air bubbles are formed in the vascular system of the plant so that the juice flow is blocked (embolism), comparable to air bubbles in a garden hose. At night, the plant would then supply extra water from the roots, thereby increasing the pressure so that the air dissolves back into the plant juice. Then the excess water must evaporate again via the hydathodes. Rowley invites readers to come up with a better theory.
In a shady place, the leaves are fairly light green (Fig.3 above).
In a sunny position, they stay smaller and are much darker green with the leaf edges and hydathodes turning brownish-red. By the way, in dappled shade, they also grow better than in full sun. In Afrikaans, the plant is not called ‘skaduplakkie’ (shadow crassula) without reason.
My first introduction to the species was during the Christmas holidays of 2005, when I stayed on the Canary Island of Gomera. I went for a walk near the apartment and came across a garden in which the soil was covered with a layer of perennial succulents with lots of pink flowers. By the way, the plant had not kept to the boundaries of the garden. Of course, there was no name sign. In May 2008, I saw the plant for a second time (now properly labeled), as a ground cover in a bed with other succulents in a greenhouse of the Botanical Garden of Berlin.
In my greenhouse (in the Netherlands) the plant blooms abundantly from March /April until well into autumn. The flowers are rather loosely arranged in the inflorescence, which results in a somewhat unkempt look. (Fig. 4 below).
Fig. 4
It reminds one of a cloud of mosquitoes and I think that is why the plant is sometimes called the ‘Mosquito Flower’ in America.
Crassula flowers perfectly conform to the prototype of a flower as you find in, for example, a biology book for schools. From the outside going to the centre, one first comes across the calyx leaves, then, alternating in position relative to these, the same number of petals, then alternating again, the same number of stamens and lastly, in alternating position again, the same number of pistils on top of the ovary. Such a flower structure with all this in equal numbers is called isomerous. With most Crassulas, the flowers are 5-merous, so 5 of all the above parts, but in C. multicava the flowers are usually 4-merous. They are white inside and pink on the outside (Fig. 5).
Fig. 5
The appearance of the star-shaped pink flower is the reason that the plant is called ‘feetjie plakkie’ or ‘feetjie crassula’ in Afrikaans. A feetjie is a fairy in English, so there it becomes fairy crassula. In Australia, the plant is called ‘London Pride’, because the plant in flower resembles Saxifraga ‘London Pride’, used as a ground cover in England. By the way, ‘London Pride’ is also the name for a multi-award-winning English beer variety.
Due to the large number of flowers, the flowering stems bend to the ground. By the time the flowering season ends, miniature versions of the plant (called bulbils, see Fig. 6 and 7 below) appear here and there on the flower stalks.
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
This is quite normal for some Kalanchoes (Bryophyllums), but exceptional in the genus Crassula. These plantlets easily become detached from the mother plant and then quickly take root. This way, in a suitable climate such as in the Canary Islands, the plant can become a pest. The name ‘Cape Province Pygmy weed’ also refers to the rampant character. I don’t know what it has to do with pygmies, but maybe it only refers to the small size of each plant.
The regenerative capacity of C. multicava is phenomenal. As early as 1938, a scientific paper was published describing how new plants can emerge from epidermis cells of small cut-off pieces of leaf. In these times of tissue culture, this may not sound so spectacular, but at the time it was considered a unique trait.
Rowley attributes the great regenerative capacity and the forming of bulbils to the large number of chromosomes of C. multicava. As we know, almost all hereditary information of an organism is recorded on the chromosomes, which are located in the nucleus of each cell. In general, in a nucleus there are 2 sets of chromosomes, 1 set originated from the father and 1 set from the mother. This is called diploid and the number of chromosomes is then indicated as 2n. The number of chromosomes in a set is indicated by the letter x. Normally, x = n. For a fruit fly x = 4 applies, for a human x = 23, for a guinea pig x = 32 and for most Crassulas x = 7. A human being has 2n = 2x = 46 chromosomes. In some species there are more than 2 sets and such a cell is called polyploid. In plant species that are normally diploid, polyploidy often leads to larger individuals or larger flowers. In Crassula, no less than 44% of the species are polyploid. The champion is C. spathulata with 2n = 20x= 140, which indicates 20 sets of 7 chromosomes per cell nucleus. C. multicava comes second with 2n = 16x = 112, so 16 sets.
I must admit that the link between a high number of chromosomes and a high reproductive capacity is not clear to me. Of other polyploid Crassulas it is not recorded that they reproduce so easily and neither do they do form bulbils, whereas C. cordata, which does make bulbils, is just diploid. Maybe someone should come up with a better theory here, too.
As for cultivation: frost-free, although they seem to be able to endure a single bit of frost without damage. Otherwise indestructible. The plant also grows well in shade.
There is a subspecies, C. multicava subsp. floribunda. This one is a bit more robust in all parts and the flowers are 5-merous. It has a cultivar, C. multicava subsp. floribunda ‘Panache’, in which the edges of the leaves are whitish-yellow. C. multicava subsp. multicava, on the other hand, has a forma ‘Variegata’ in which the leaves are green at the edges but yellow in the centre.
Literature: Harders, C.L. (1932). Crassulaceae, Succulenta 15 (11): 207.
Rowley, G. (2003). Crassula, Cactus & Co.
McVeigh, I (1938). Regeneration in Crassula multicava, American Journal of Botany 25: 7 -11.
First published in Succulenta 90, (1) 2011. Translated from Dutch by FN.
Common name klipnenta.
This is one of the most widespread Tylecodons, which probably explains the great variability of the species.
The plants have tuberous roots, with one stem or with several short or long stems (to 20 cm tall), forming small groups to ± 30 cm in diameter. The stems are erect to spreading and at least 8 mm thick, often with short to long phyllopodia (leaf bases).
Leaves are dry at flowering, green to yellowish-green, flattened, with great variation in shape (very narrow to lance- to heart-shaped) and size (3-9 x 0.5-2 cm) and with or without hairs or glands.
The erect to spreading flowers are arranged in an inflorescence up to 50 cm tall. They possess a corolla tube 1.6-2 cm long and 0.8-1.1 cm wide, which is much swollen (= ventricosus) about the middle and are yellowish-green streaked with purplish brown. Flowering time is between September and March.
Distribution
Occurring in rock crevices and on stony or sandy slopes, often under shrubs.
Widespread from the Richtersveld to Piketberg and the Little Karoo and eastwards to near De Aar and Jansenville. In most of this area, rain occurs mainly in winter.
Usually this is a robust, much-branched shrub up to over a meter tall, but in the Richtersveld it is sometimes only a few centimeters tall with creeping branches.
Its Afrikaans name (paperbark Crassula) refers to the flaking bark covering the branches.
The leaves are variable in shape and size, linear to sword-shaped, green to brown or reddish, 25-60 (-80) mm long, and 3-15 mm wide. They have acute tips, but often these become dry and fall off (see last picture).
The flowers are white (often tinged pink), tubular, and 2.5-4 mm long; they appear in Oct.-Dec.
This species occurs from southwestern Namibia to near Clanwilliam, among boulders and on rocky, N-facing slopes.
Within its distribution area from southeastern Namibia through Bushmanland to the Little Karoo and the Cradock area, this species is widespread and often locally abundant on bare gravelly flats, lower slopes and ridges.
In spite of their lack of “rarity appeal”, it is always a joy to meet these plants in the field, because they are not only beautiful, but also show a great variation in size, shape and colour. Unfortunately it is rather difficult to keep the plants neat and compact in cultivation.
In nature, its fleshy, erect to spreading branches give the plants a height of up to about 8 cm.
The leaves are rather variable in shape and size, up to 2 cm long and to 1.5 cm wide, inversely lance-shaped to diamond- or almond-shaped, with a flat to concave upper face and a strongly convex to keeled lower one; they are covered with small warts and grey wax flakes, and sometimes have a greenish, purplish or brownish hue.
The flowers are about 5 mm long, usually cream-coloured, but sometimes white or pinkish. They appear in October and November.
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.
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.
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.
Fig. 1 The plants produce miniature plants on the edge of the leaves.
