Somaliland Archives - enjoysucculents

Aloidendron (Aloe) eminens

Common names: Somali tree aloe, Daar Der (= the tall Aloe)

Of the seven Aloidendron species, only two are found outside Namibia, South Africa, and Mozambique: A. sabaeum (Arabian peninsula) and A. eminens, which at first glance is somewhat similar to the much more familiar A. barberae from South Africa.
It is an upright tree 10-15 m tall, looking somewhat untidy because of its irregularly branching. Its trunk is up to 1.5 m in diameter at ground level.
16-20 leaves are gathered at the tip of each branch; they are 40-45 cm long and about 5 cm wide at the base, gradually narrowing to an obtuse, downwards pointing tip. The upper surface is dull-green and u-shaped in cross-section, whereas the lower surface is rounded; the margins are white with blunt teeth.
The branched inflorescences are 50-60 cm high, with red, somewhat glossy flowers, which are cylindrical-trigonous on cross-section, rather thick and fleshy, and about 4 cm long. They appear mostly in November-February and are pollinated by birds.

Although the species is still locally common in northern Somaliland, it is endangered by habitat loss, logging, and wood harvesting.
It occurs in sheltered, well-wooded ravines and on steep rocky limestone slopes North of Erigavo (Ceerigabo), between about 1500 and 2000 m. The climate is relatively cool here with between 600-1000mm rain per year.

Kalanchoe marmorata

This beautiful species occurs widespread from DR Congo and Tanzania to Sudan, Eritrea and Somalia on rocky slopes in wooded areas and cultivated lands at altitudes between 1200 and 2400 m.

It is also often cultivated as an ornamental as well as medicinal plant.

It has upright stems (often creeping at the base) 0.5-1.3 m. or more tall, with leaves up to 25 cm long and about 13 cm wide which are often marbled with brown to purple markings on both sides.
The inflorescences are 30 cm or more tall and the flowers are white (rarely cream), sometimes flushed with pale pink. The flower have long tubes, usually between 4.5 and 12 cm long.

Euphorbia multiclava

This distinctive species forms clumps to 30 cm tall and 40 cm wide by branching dichotomously (an uncommon thing in the genus).
The branches are usually 2-3.5 cm thick and 2-7 cm long, with 10-16 ribs.
The plants grow in the eastern part of Somaliland at altitudes between 1200-1500 m on open plains where the topsoil is often a layer of powder-like limestone.

Plant in cultivation; scanned slide

Aloe peckii

In general, this species is stemless and growing singly or in small groups, but sometimes groups of over 20 rosettes are formed.
Each rosette has 14-16 leaves, about 16 cm long and 6 cm wide at the base, usually olive-green with many whitish-green spots, but in some cases light green and unspotted.
The flowers are very striking and because of their conspicuous stripes apparently unique within the genus.

The plants occur on gypsum soil in the Al Madu (Ahl Medow) Mountain Range (north of Erigavo) in Somaliland, at 1,500 to 1,550 m, mostly in shade.

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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