Little Karoo Archives - Page 12 of 16

Trichodiadema densum

It is easy to see why this species is so popular in cultivation. The plants are compact (the most compact of the whole genus) and have thick fleshy roots.
The diadems at the tips of the leaves are the largest of all Trichodiademas and the flowers (appearing in winter and spring: June- October) are 4-5 cm in diameter.
One can come across the plants from Uniondale to Willowmore and the southern Great Karoo, where they mainly grow in white quartz fields.

The last picture shows a plant in cultivation (scan from slide)

Anacampseros albidiflora (2)

Anacampseros albidiflora (1)

Plants of this species are found widespread in the Great and Little Karoo on stony slopes, usually sheltered by rocks or bushes. They are columnar and relatively thick, up to 4 cm tall (when not in flower).
The flowers are white to pale pink and appear mainly from October to January.

Astroloba corrugata

Unless they grow in deep shade (they are often found under shrubs), these plants commonly have a sickly orange-brown colour. One regularly sees the same phenomenon in some other species of Astroloba and Haworthia (see H. viscosa). The plants occur from Worcester to Ladismith and can be locally abundant. They are up to 20 cm tall. Doreen Court in her “Succulent flora of southern Africa” mentions a height of 30-80 cm, but this is probably a mistake. The flowers are produced in late spring and summer (Oct.-Feb.).
The picture of the flowers was taken in cultivation (scan from slide).

Ruschia impressa

Some people seem think that the second part of this name means impressive, but in reality it means impressed. (Don’t ask me what it refers to!).
At first sight it just seems to be another one of those many small, nondescript shrubby Mesembs. Only when you take the time to look at it properly you will see how cute it really is. I quite agree with the remark in the Illustrated of Succulent Plants: “The compact shape suggests that the species has a potential as garden or rockery plants”.
The plants do not get any taller than 6 cm. Maybe the best way to recognize them is the fact that the keel of the leaves is adorned with a small (sometimes inconspicuous) tooth.
The species is endemic to the western part of the Little Karoo (Ladismith, Montagu).

Euphorbia pillansii (2)

These pics were shot just north of the Garcia Pass. The first two on 13 Sept. 2011; the others on 6 Nov. 2009.

Euphorbia pillansii (1)

On seeing plants of this species for the first time, one would be excused for thinking they belong to E. stellispina (see earlier post). E. pillansii is smaller (up to 30 cm tall instead of up to 50 cm or more) and the stems have fewer angles (7-9 compared to 10-16). The plants are either male or female and occur sporadically from Ceres to Vanwyksdorp in the Little Karoo on stony, clayey soils.
The pictures were taken 7 Febr. 2009, west of Ladismith.

To be continued.

Gibbaeum heathii (2)

Dates photographed:
No 1: 31 May 2009
Nos 2,3: 12 Sept. 2009
No 4: 6 Nov. 2011
No 5: unknown (scan from old film)

Gibbaeum heathii (1)

This species is one of the most widely distributed in the genus (from north of Laingsburg to the Calitzdorp area) and seems to feel at home especially in quartz outcrops.
It is also one of the most variable ones. In some populations the plants form clumps 15-30 cm across, in others the clumps are small, with only a few bodies. The bodies may vary from about 8 mm to 6 cm in diameter and from a few millimeters to about 6 cm in height.
According to Nel’s The Gibbaeum Handbook, the colours run from: “uniformly whitish, white greyish, metal grey to pale glaucous green, green, sometimes tinted yellowish, purplish or sometimes quite reddish (this latter colour probably indication that clump is shrivelling off)”.
The flowers can be 10 to 30 mm across and are white, pink or purple.

All pictures in this post were taken in 2009
The first picture on 8 Febr.
The second one on 31 May
Nos. three and four on 9 Oct.

More pictures to come.

Gibbaeum dispar

In cultivation this species is rather common, as it is one of the easier Gibbaeums to grow and flower (see picture at bottom).
In the wild it is only found on a few very dry shaly ridges near Vanwyksdorp. According to Nel’s Gibbaeum Handbook, it is the only Gibbaeum which does not grow together with any other species of the genus.
The plants look a bit like G. album, but they are darker and softer. The flowers appear in April.