Tag: Namibian succulents

Chasmatophyllum musculinum (mosvygie)

This attractive species is widespread in the summer rainfall area of South Africa from the North-eastern Karoo into the Free State and Bushmanland and is also found in southern Namibia. It occurs in flats, in shale or coarser sand or gravel and easily establishes itself along roadsides and in other open spaces.

The plants are rather variable: compact to freely branched with creeping branches, forming dense mats or growing in tufts.
The leaves are more or less trigonous, 1-2.5 cm long, 0.4-0.5 cm wide and thick; they are covered with prominent whitish warts.
Flowers appear from August to December; they have a very short stalk and are about 1.5 cm in diameter. The petals are golden yellow but reddened at the tip on the back surface. They open from late afternoon to early evening.

NB. The picture labelled C. musculinum in Robin Frandsen’s “Succulents of Southern Africa” does not show this species but rather a Stomatium.

Crassula cotyledonis (Bergplakkie)

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.

Cheiridopsis robusta

C. robusta has a wide distribution which is probably the cause of its considerable variation in certain features. This in turn has led to a  high number of synonyms (16 in total).
It is easy to cultivate and to flower, one of the reasons for it being probably the most common species of Cheiridopsis in cultivation.

The plants form loose clumps, 20 cm tall and up to 40 cm across.
Their leaves are  mucronate*, 5-8 cm long and about 1.5 cm thick; triangular in cross-section, pale greyish blue to greyish green with a reddish tinge and decorated with translucent spots.
Flowers are 6 cm in diameter, cream to yellow to white , often with pink, purple or  orange  tinges; they appear in August-September.

C. robusta is very common in the Richtersveld and also occurs in Southern Namibia, both winter rainfall areas with less than 100 mm rain per year.  It is mostly found on rocky/gravelly flats or slopes, below 600 m in altitude.

* Ending abruptly with a small triangular tip.

Crassula deceptor

Guest column by Theo Heijnsdijk

Many Crassulas are beautiful mimicry plants. This one owes its name deceptor (= impostor) to the fact that the gray-green rosettes set with small dots look like small angular stones and in their habitat in southern Namibia and Namaqualand are hidden amongst the quartz stones that occur there.
The species was found in 1897 by Alston (of Avonia alstonii fame) and described by Schönland & Baker in 1902. Schönland later changed the name to Crassula deceptrix. This suggests that he considered cheating to be a trait that suits women more than men. But the real reason was that the word Crassula is feminine, and he thought (wrongly) that the species name had to be feminine as well. Later (1974) the name change was revoked.
Crassula deceptor is variable in shape and size. In nature, the rosettes are about 2.5 cm in diameter and up to about 8 cm tall. The plant in figure 1 has the same width.

Fig. 1: Crassula deceptor resembles a jagged piece of stone 

The stems divide dichotomously and form a compact cluster over time.
For me in the Netherlands, the plant always blooms around October. As is the case with many Crassulas, this is not a spectacular but nevertheless graceful sight. The plants form branched flowering stems which protrude well above them and produce several tiny cream-green flowers which turn brown after flowering (fig. 2).

Fig. 2: Crassula deceptor in bloom

As for its cultivation: full sun, little water in summer and none in winter. With a less sunny location and/or a lot of water, they do not retain the compact shape. Be careful with water staying behind on the rosettes.

C. cornuta (figure 3), also described by Schönland, is nowadays considered to be synonymous with C. deceptor. Yet it clearly deviates from the standard form of the species. The leaves are longer, more pointed and much lighter in colour.

Fig 3

For the sake of completeness, it is worth mentioning that there are also quite a few hybrids in which C. deceptor is one of the parents. I have a hybrid of C. deceptor x C. susannae (fig. 4); the diameter of this plant is just 2 cm. 


Fig. 4

In ‘Crassula’ by Gordon Rowley, this cross is called ‘Dorothy’. He also mentions the following  hybrids: ‘Frosty’ (C. deceptor x tecta); ‘Gandalf’ (C.deceptor x mesembryanthemopsis); ‘Moonglow’ (C. deceptor x perfoliata var. falcata); ‘Shogun’ (C. deceptor x hemisphaerica) and the multihybrid ‘Star Child’ (C. deceptor x ‘Starbust’), ‘Starbust’ being a hybrid of C. ausensis x pyramidalis.


Fig. 5: Leaves of C. ‘Frosty’ 


Fig.6: Flowers of C. ‘Frosty’


Fig. 7: C. deceptor in habitat

Literature:
B.K. Boom (1980), De Crassula’s van onze collecties, Succulenta 59 [8]: 176-179
Mia C. Karsten (1941), Zuid-Afrikaansche succulente reisherinneringen I, de botanische tuin te Stellenbosch (6), Succulenta 23 [6]: 65
Gordon Rowley (2003), Crassula, Cactus & Co

First published in Succulenta 89 [2]: febr. 2010. Translation FN.

For more habitat pictures and info, see
A jewel in the Crassula crown: C. deceptor

Crassula macowaniana (papierbasplakkie)

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.

Quaqua (Caralluma) mammillaris

Of all species of Quaqua, this is the one with the widest distribution and also probably the best known.
The plants form vigorous clumps of up to 60 cm tall and wide.
Even when not in flower, the plants are usually easily recognised by their size and the hard, yellow-brown spines. The flowers appear in March-June and emit a very unpleasant smell.

Occurring in a great variety of habitats from southern Namibia to Rietbron in the Great Karoo and Oudtshoorn in the Little Karoo.

Senecio aloides (Grootdikblaar)

One can only wonder why De Candolle, who described this species in 1838, gave it this name, bearing in mind that aloides means “aloe-like”.
The plants form straggly shrubs of up to 70 cm tall, with few branches which are bright purple when young, becoming greyish brown with age. The cylindrical leaves are 3-7 cm long and 0.2-0.5 cm thick.

The species occurs on rocks and dunes near the coast from southern Namibia to the Cape Peninsula, where in July-October the plants are decorated with fragrant yellow flowerheads .

Curio sulcicalyx

This interesting little plant from southern Namibia and Namaqualand (as far south as Bitterfontein), comes under a variety of names: Senecio sulcicalyx, S. klinghardtianus, S. iosensis, Othonna/Senecio/Kleinia pusilla (pusillus).
It has a preference for rock crevices.

A great part of the plant is underground with rhizomes and tuberous roots.
The branches are up to 5 cm long. The leaves are 1 -2.5 cm long and 0.7-1.2 cm wide, sometimes shortly hairy.
Although the flower heads are usually white to mauve, in certain forms they are yellow; they appear from February to July.

 

Crassula deltoidea (katakiso)

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.