Horn of Africa Archives - enjoysucculents

Euphorbia abyssinica

Even though this is not the most imposing of the tree Euphorbias, a mature specimen is a sight for sore eyes, especially when it is decorated with its big bright red fruits.

When fully developed, the trees may be 9-10 m tall, with a short bulky trunk and a dense crown of upcurved stems. The tips of the branches are usually 4- angled, 4 to 6 cm wide, and regularly constricted into oval segments to 15 cm long; the angles are straight to shallowly waved.
The spine shields are triangular, to 1 x 0.7 cm; they are separate and become corky with age. The spine pairs are up to 0.5 cm long, often not completely developed or apparently absent.
The cyathia are 1.2 cm across, with golden yellow glands; the fleshy
fruits are about 1.5 x 2 cm, first white, then turning bright red, and hardening over time.

Euphorbia abyssinica occurs at altitudes between 840 and 1460 m in Sudan (Red Sea Hills), Eritrea, N. Ethiopia, Somaliland, and N. Somalia, on dry stony slopes and bushy savannahs, sometimes growing on its own but often locally dominant.

The stem is used for firewood and as timber and the sap is sometimes used in traditional medicine and to kill ticks on cattle.
In suitable climates, the species is grown as an ornamental house plant and also as a garden plant. It is best propagated by seed because cuttings do not develop the characteristic trunk.

Delosperma schimperi

Most people will not think immediately of Ethiopia as a habitat for Mesembs, but it harbours at least two species of Delosperma and I was fortunate to find one of them in flower near Dilb in early December last year. The species is also found in Eritrea and occurs on basaltic outcrops at about 3000-4100 m altitude.
In the Ethiopian Red List (2005) it is classified as endangered.

The plants have thickened roots and form loose cushions or hang down from vertical cliffs with stems up to 75 cm long.
The leaves are about 1 cm long and more or less round; they have long papillae at their tips somewhat resembling a diadem as in Trichodiadema.
The flowers are about 2.5 cm in diameter and have purple petals which are shorter than the calyx lobes.

Growing together with Aloe ankoberensis and
Aeonium leucoblepharum

Aloe somaliensis

Aloe somaliensis was described in 1899, from plants that were raised at Kew from seeds that had been collected a few years before, probably at Sheikh pass in Somaliland Protectorate (as it was then called). It is now known to occur not only in Somaliland but also in Djibouti, on rocky slopes at altitudes between 700 and 1700 m.
It may be of interest to know that the accompanying pictures were taken late January 2015, likely at roughly the same spot the original seeds came from.

The plants grow singly or in small groups and bear 12-16 leaves, usually narrowly lance-shaped and about 20 cm long.
The inflorescences are 60-80 cm tall.

Senecio (Kleinia) polytomus

Polytomus means something like much divided and refers to the fact that the plants are much more branched than in otherwise similar species like S. scottii and S. odora.
In nature the plants form compact shrubs up to about a meter tall; in cultivation they may reach 3 m.
They are locally common in the Sanaag region of northern Somaliland in dry bush land on stony plains and slopes at altitudes between 1000 and 1900 m.
The flowers range in colour from white and yellow to pink, purple and magenta. They usually appear in October and November, but the accompanying pictures were made in late January.

Euphorbia ballyi (2)

euphball DSC_2005

euphball DSC_1929

euphball DSC_2022

euphball DSC_1928

Euphorbia ballyi (1)

euphball DSC_2004
euphball DSC_1923 euphball DSC_1924

This little known species has a limited distribution on exposed south-facing limestone slopes and gravelly plains with sparse scrub in the Sanaag region of eastern Somaliland at an altitude of 1350-2000 m.
The plants form compact sturdy shrubs up to 1.5 m high; the branches have 4-6 angled segments 3-4 cm long and 4-7 cm wide, with a continuous horny margin and strong spines to 2.5 cm long.

To be continued.

Cotyledon barbeyi

There are not many plant species that occur from South Africa to the Arabian peninsula, but this is one of them. The photos in this post were taken in the mountainous Shikh area in Somaliland (see first picture). In years gone by I also saw quite a few of these plants in Yemen, but strangely enough I never came across them in South Africa.
The shrubs may be up to 2 m tall. The colour of the calyx is described as green and that of the corolla as dark orange to red, rather different from what we see here. However, as Van Jaarsveld and Koutnik remark in their “Cotyledon and Tylecodon”, the corolla inflation between the calyx lobes is diagnostic, so that should remove any possible doubts about the identification.

habcotybarb 2108

cotybarb 2114

cotybarb 2117

cotybarb 2116

To Somaliland and back

Since I returned from Somaliland last week, I have been pondering how to evaluate the trip.
On the one hand it was a once in a life time experience for me and I’m truly grateful to have been able to do this. I saw many plants that were either new to me or I had not seen for many years. Seeing what people in a country like that have to cope with, also helps in appreciating one’s own situation.
On the other hand we ran into a lot of troubles that made the trip less pleasant and useful than expected. Sometimes the permits we had for travelling within the country were not sufficient; at other times the locals were very suspicious of what we were doing and did not want us to be there. In the end we even decided to cut the visit short and return two days earlier to Ethiopia.
Usually one of the main purposes for a trip like this is making as many pictures as is feasible. Unfortunately the camera I use as a rule (Nikon D700), decided to turn a lot of my pictures completely black. So, although the image took up memory space on the card, it showed only black pixels. Fortunately I brought a spare body (D70) with me, so not al was lost, but calling the problem annoying would be somewhat of an understatement!
In spite of all this, I came home with a number of interesting pictures, some of which will appear on this blog in due course.

To wet your appetite I add some pictures of
Senecio pendulus, Aloe grisea, Dorstenia foetida and Dracaena schizantha resp.

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Temporary silence

For many, many years I have wanted to visit Somalia and see its wonderful succulents. I paid many visits to other countries in the area: Ethiopia and Kenya in the Horn of Africa and Yemen on the Arabian peninsula. But for one reason or the other, Somalia was always out of reach.
In 1991, the part of Somalia that used to be British Somaliland declared itself independent. The fact that it is not recognized as an independent country by the international community makes it a bit complicated to visit and it is therefore a rather unusual destination for tourists.
A while ago an unexpected occasion came up to visit Somaliland, in the company of a few people who have been there before.
And so, the day after tomorrow I will be flying to Addis Ababa, from where we will take a bus and head east to our destination.
I suppose there will not be much time or opportunity to communicate with the rest of the world while being in Somaliland, so don’t expect any posts from me until the beginning of February.