South African succulents Archives - Page 16 of 47

Conophytum meyeri (part 1 of 2)

When a species has many synoniems (16 in this case), one cannot help but wonder what that means. There may be a couple of reasons for the plethora of names, but in this case the most likely one is the species being so highly variable. Understandably, this makes it often difficult to positively identify it. The situation is further complicated by the fact that the species often grows together with C. bilobum and hybridizes with it, resulting in swarms of plants with intermediate characters.

The plants form small or large cushions (up to 30 cm in diameter), which may be straggly or neatly domed.
The bodies are up to 2.5 cm long and 1.5 cm in diameter, heart-shaped to nearly spherical, usually slightly bilobed and sometimes slightly keeled. The keel lines are often red, the fissure zone has small, windowed patches on either side and the skin is pale green to yellowish green or greyish green, smooth or velvety-papillate and often spotted.
As a rule the flowers are yellow (rarely pure white), with petals often drooping. They appear in March -June.

The plants occur mostly in the western Richtersveld on granite, gneiss, sandstone or quartz slopes -often in shade.

All 3 pictures taken 6 Oct. 2011.

Cephalophyllum tricolorum

I suppose that few people will get excited about a Cephalophyllum without flowers, but when flowers are present, it is quite a different story. In this case, the flowers are up to 5 cm in diameter, with yellow petals and orange stamens with brownish to purple tips. They appear from June through September.
The plants are to a meter in diameter and have a very compact centre and creeping branches. The leaves are rather long (8-12 cm) and round with trigonous tips; dark green to greyish.
The fruits have stalks that don’t last very long and are classified as tumble fruits.

The species occurs in dry fynbos and low open karroid bush on sandy to loamy soils from the Knersvlakte to Nieuwoudtville and Clanwilliam. Most of the rainfall occurs in winter (100-200 mm per year).
Because the plants can quickly colonize a site, it can be a very useful species, but unfortunately it is reluctant to flower in cultivation.

Crassula nemorosa (part 1 of 2)

These charming little plants have erect or sprawling stems , 4-10 (-15) cm long.
They are geophytes, with many small tubers (rarely over 0.5 cm in diameter).
The slightly fleshy leaves are grey-green or greyish brown and the star- to cup-shaped flowers are pale yellowish-green to brown with 2-3.5 mm long lobes.
While the flowers usually appear between June and August, depending on rainfall this may also happen at other times.
The distribution area ranges from South Namibia to the Little Karoo and the Eastern Cape, but the plants only occur in sheltered spots on rocky slopes and in crevices.

Tanquana prismatica (part 1 of 2)

There are only three species of Tanquana; the other two being T. hilmarii and T. archeri (which I have never seen). All three used to be called Pleiospilos because of the dotted leaves, but actually the two genera are not closely related.
Over time T. prismatica may form clusters of up to 30 branches. The leaves are unequal, egg-shaped in young plants but more oblong later, with a length of 2.5-4 cm.
The strongly scented flowers are to 4 cm in diameter and appear from February to May.

The plants are not uncommon on stony flats in the Ceres-Laingsburg area, where they receive 100-150 mm rain per year, mainly in winter.

Below are some pictures to give you an idea of the conditions in the plants’ habitat.

Adromischus caryophyllaceus

In contrast to their near relatives Cotyledon, Tylecodon and Kalanchoe, almost all Adromischus species have rather insignificant flowers.
This species is an exception with flowers 1.5 cm in diameter at the widest part (the biggest in the genus). They are white or pink, with a pink to purple midstripe on the lobes, and appear in summer and autumn (Jan.- April).
The plants are up to 11 cm tall and to 14 cm in diameter, with leaves up to 3.5 cm long and to 2.3 cm wide.
They are widespread from Robertson to Uitenhage and in the coastal plain south of the Little Karoo* , usually on sandstone slopes among bushes.

*The first picture was taken at Cape Agulhas, Africa’s southernmost tip.

Tylecodon pearsonii

Attractive dwarf shrublets up to 15 cm tall with a caudiciform base up to 3.5 cm in diameter.
Branches are short and fat, with peeling yellow-brown bark; covered with flat white phyllopodia (leaf-bases) when young. The leaves are usually up to 4 cm long and 5-7 mm wide.
The flowers are tubular, erectly spreading to pendulous and relatively large (up to 1.8 cm long). They appear in November and December.

This species is widely distributed from southwest Namibia to the Knersvlakte, on flats and stony slopes, often with quartz rocks or pebbles.
Rainfall in the area is 100-200 mm per year, mainly in winter. The temperatures are high in summer and moderate in winter, sometimes with light frost.

Crassula orbicularis (part 1 of 2)

Depending on the environmental conditions, this species produces few to many rosettes with long runners, often forming dense groups up to over a metre in diameter.
Each rosette has 10-12 flattened and slightly fleshy leaves, which have a dense row of hairs along the edges and are green to brownish green, sometimes partially tinged pink to red.
The size of the leaf varies from 8 to 80 (sometimes even 100) mm long and 4 to 20 (-26) mm wide, again depending on environmental conditions.
The inflorescence is up to 20 cm tall, with small flowers (white to pale yellow, often with pink or reddish brown hue) appearing in June to November.

The species is widespread from Worcester to the eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal,
usually in sheltered southern slopes under rocks or bushes; often on rocky outcrops in forested areas.

crasorb2005-11-30-0009 — This photo and the next two ones were taken in the Little Karoo

Crassula corallina (part 1: subsp. corallina)

Plants of this subspecies are usually rather short-lived; they occur from southwestern Namibia southwards to Laingsburg and south-eastwards to Queenstown .
The branches are usually lying on the ground and rooting at the nodes.
The leaves are 3-5 mm long and 2-3 mm wide.
In December to April the plants are decorated with cream flowers.

Aloe striata ssp. striata

This is one of the very few southern African Aloes without spines on the edge of the leaves.
The stems are rarely over 30 cm long and the leaves are up to 60 cm long and 15 cm wide, from greenish-grey to pinkish-grey with not very distinct longitudinal stripes.
The flowers are bright orange or (rarely) yellow on inflorescences up to a meter tall and appear from winter to early spring (August-October).
On flats with deep loamy soils, the plants are often abundant, but they also occur on rocky slopes.
The plants are not grazed, so when you see a great many together, this is an indication of heavy overgrazing of the area in the past. They are widespread from Worcester in the Western Cape to Queenstown in the Eastern Cape.

Crassula tecta (part 3 of 3)

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crastect 7675 2012-05-06

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