CRASSULA PERFOLIATA VAR. FALCATA*: The sickle leaf Crassula

(Another guest column by Theo Heijnsdijk)

* This is the name most often used for this plant, but if you want to follow the latest trend, you should call it C. perfoliata var. minor. 

First of all, a quote from the Dutch illustrated weekly Floralia of 26 October 1933. The writer was G.D. Duursma, one of the founders of ‘Succulenta’ and a well-known figure in the Dutch succulent world.

Under the headline “Crassula falcata, a reluctant flowerer?” he wrote the following:
Crassula falcata, better known to the old florists as Rochea falcata, is a very classic succulent, which has disappeared almost completely from cultivation. In former days, half a century or more ago, every florist grew them and there were beautiful specimens to admire on all country estates. Nowadays, for the sake of completeness, they are still seen among succulent enthusiasts. They were acquired because, according to the books, they bloom so beautifully and so easily… ,but most people have noticed very little of that easy flowering. Is the plant to blame or is it the wrong treatment?

Crassula falcata hails from the area of the former Cape Province in South Africa. The plant, which has been known since about 1700, was described in 1798 by the German botanist Johann Christoph Wendland in the journal ‘Botanische Beobachtungen’.  De Candolle gave the plant the name Rochea falcata in part 3 of his bilingual book Plantarum Historia Succulentarum’ = ‘Histoire des plantes grasses’.  He created the genus Rochea to accommodate the Crassulas with large tubular flowers.   The genus name refers to the Swiss botanist Daniel de la Roche whose son François also was a botanist. Both died in Paris in 1813 of typhus (brought from Russia by Napoleon’s soldiers). To honour them both, De Candolle divided the genus into a section Daniela and a section Francisceana in 1828. In the aforementioned book by De Candolle, which appeared in episodes between 1799 and 1837, we also find an image (by Pierre Joseph Redouté) of Rochea falcata. I don’t think the resemblance is that strong. Much more beautiful is the image in Fragmenta botanica by Nicolaus Joseph Freiherr von Jacquin, which also appeared in episodes, published in the years 1800 – 1809. (fig. 1).


Fig. 1:  Plate from Fragmenta botanica by  N.J. von  Jacquin.

Here the plant is called Larochea falcata (genus name published in 1805 by the South African mycologist Christiaan Hendrik Persoon). Nowadays, the Rocheas are again simply included in the genus Crassula, whereas C. falcata is considered a variety of C. perfoliata. Perfoliata means ‘with the stems apparently growing through the leaf (or pair of united leaves)’ which obviously refers to the stem-encompassing leaf bases which give the impression that the stem grows through the leaves. We see this phenomenon even more clearly in C. perforata and related species.

Despite its large leaf surface, C. falcata is excellently resistant to dehydration caused by sun and heat. This is a result of the structure of the epidermis. In the book “Pflanzenleben” by Kerner von Marilaun, published in 1887, extensive attention was already paid to this. In the book, there is an image with a  cross-section and a view from above of the leaf surface (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2:  Illustration from ‘Pflanzenleben’ by Kerner von Marilaun.
At 1, a cross-section approximately 600 times enlarged and at 2, a view from above, approximately 350 times enlarged. On the right, the armored cells are omitted so that the stomata become visible.

The accompanying text reads as follows (slightly abridged):
“The ordinary epidermis cells are small and only a little thickened on the outer wall. The cells that assemble the armor, on the other hand, are greatly enlarged. Their stem-shaped foot, which has been pushed like a wedge between the ordinary epidermis cells, is already relatively large; but the bladder-shaped swelling has dimensions that are 600 times the size of ordinary epidermis cells. All the vesicles are close together and, because of the pressure they exert on each other, have almost taken the form of a cube. Where, despite this, there would still be an opening, the bladders form bulges to the left and right, which interlock in such a way that a completely closed armor is created. The latter name is all the more justified here because the bladder-shaped swollen cells of Crassula falcata are hard as pebbles. Abundant silica is deposited in their cell wall and by annealing them one gets a real pebble skeleton, like Diatomaceae. It goes without saying that in the dry season such an armour is excellent protection against evaporation for the cells full of liquid that it covers.”

The armoured cells remind me very much of the basalt blocks with which dike slopes are reinforced.
As we have seen, back in 1933 G.D. Duursma observed that C. falcata was an antique plant that almost had disappeared from the collections. These days, it is all the way back. With its silver-grey to elephant-grey leaves, the plant fits perfectly into the modern interiors as well as the garden. For example, a few years ago nurseryman Smit from Sappemeer launched the ‘Eden collection’:

“This label guarantees the consumer strong plants that remind one of paradise.
The combination of exceptional shapes and colours with a unique name must give each plant a distinctive identity. No colorful overcrowded flower boxes, but a series of trendy, non-flowering plants in ornamental pots, bowls, or planters. All these plants can shine on the terrace table during the summer and in autumn you just take them inside.

The paragraph overhead is a quotation from the grower’s promotional material. Part of the “Eden collection” is a bowl planted entirely with C. falcata. I have to admit, it looks beautiful.


Fig. 3: C. perfoliata var. falcata in the ‘Eden collection’.

Let’s return to the article “Crassula falcata, a reluctant bloomer?” from the  ‘Floralia’ magazine. Of course, the word reluctant does not refer to the flowers as such, because it is particularly fascinating to see how the buds that are packed like a grey ball at first (fig. 4), unfold into an umbrella-like screen while gradually changing from yellow and orange-red (fig. 5) to fiery red (fig. 6). (There is also a white flowering variant).

Fig. 4: At first the buds are packed like a grey ball.


Fig. 5. The umbel unfolds and the flower buds start colouring.

Fig. 6. The umbel’s colour changes from orange to fiery red.

After the lines cited above, the article continues as follows:

“We know an old nurseryman in Friesland’s capital (note:  Friesland is one of the Dutch provinces), someone who does not worry much about careful cultivation, and dozens of “Rocheas” bloom beautifully every summer for him. Other growers have tried to draw the secret from this Rochea specialist. But they did not find out the truth, because, when asked what he did to get such beautifully flowering Rocheas every year, the laconic answer was: “nothing!”.
And yet in this one word, the grower has revealed his entire secret. It’s incredible how casually, how barbaric almost, the Rocheas are treated here. ”

This is followed by an account of the especially ‘hard’ cultivation of these plants and the curbing of strong growth. The article ends as follows:

“The old grower whom we mentioned earlier on, knocks the plants out of the pot in spring and puts them in a sunny place, potting them again as soon as buds start appearing. ”  In this case too, the plant is forced to flower due to a strong restraint from growing.

So the plants thrive most if they get a lot of sun and fresh air in summer and no more water than is necessary to prevent wrinkles. In winter, a cool but light place is recommended.
Propagation can be done by sowing and by taking stem or leaf cuttings, preferably with a little piece of stem. In sandy soil, the cuttings will root quickly.


Fig. 7:   C. perfoliata var. falcata is easy to propagate from leaf cuttings.

For such a well-known plant, there are of course a number of ‘common’ names in addition to the botanical name.  Apart from sickle leaf, we find the name propeller plant. English speakers also use the name ‘scarlet paintbrush’. G.D. Duursma affectionately calls it ” Cape beauty” in one of his books.

Over the years, it has been shown that C. falcata can be crossed with almost any other Crassula. This is all the more remarkable as there is an unlikely number of different growth forms in the genus. In his book ‘Crassula’, Gordon Rowley gives a diagram in which no less than 16 Crassulas are mentioned of which hybrids with C. falcata are known. In addition, there are a number of crosses that are not documented but in which C. falcata was probably also involved. In the beginning, people were looking for crosses with closely related species. This was done in 1898 with another Rochea (R. coccinea) and this hybrid was called C. x langleyensis. In 1936, C. exilis ssp. cooperi followed, which hybrid is now called C. x justi-corderoyi. In 1945, Dr. Meredith Morgan managed to realize a hybrid with the miniature (only about 1 cm tall) C. mesembryanthemopsis (fig. 8).

Fig. 8: C. mesembryanthemopsis, the father of C. ‘Morgan’s Beauty’.

This resulted in “Morgan’s Beauty”. Probably everyone knows this plant. It looks like a C. falcata compressed in all dimensions and it blooms with a bouquet of fragrant pink flowers barely taller than the rosette (fig. 9).

Fig. 9: C. ‘Morgan’s Beauty’ (C. perfoliata var. falcata x C. mesembryanthemopsis).

I have found that this plant is almost irresistibly attractive especially to women. The only disadvantage is that the old flowers remain on top of the plant like an ugly plug. This property shares the plant with its father, as shown in figure 8.

Another well-known hybrid is ‘Buddha’s Temple’ (fig. 10) from 1959, a cross with C. pyramidalis.

Fig. 10: C. ‘Buddha’s Temple (C. perfoliata var. falcata x C. pyramidalis).

We may also come across ‘Jade Necklace’ (fig. 11), a hybrid with C. rupestris var. marnieriana, also from 1959 and ‘Moonglow’ (fig. 12), a cross with C. deceptor from 1958.

Fig. 11: C. ‘Jade Necklace’ (C. perfoliata var. falcata x C. rupestris var. marnieriana).

Fig. 12 C. “Moonglow” (C. deceptor x C. perfoliata var. falcata)

And then there are crosses between these crosses, but we will leave them out of account here.

Literature:
Candolle, A.P. de and Redouté, P.J. (1799-1837): Plantarum Historia Succulentarum, vol. 3: t. 121
Jacquin, N.J. von (1809): Fragmenta botanica, figuris coloratis illustrata, t. 82
Kerner von Marilaun, A. (1902): Het leven der planten, after the 2nd edition, tyranslated by Dr. Vitus Bruinsma
Laren, A. J. van (1932): Vetplanten, Verkade factories N.V., Zaandam
Rowley, G. (2003): Crassula, Cactus & Co.
Wendland, J.C. (1798): Botanische Beobachtungen, 44

Originally published in Succulenta 92 (2013) p. 3-11. Translated from the Dutch by F.N.

 

 

 

Tridentea gemmiflora (Gortjie)

Although this species covers a wide distribution area (from the Free State and the Eastern Cape to Worcester), it is never very common. It usually occurs on sandy or loamy flats in the shade of shrubs.
The plants form clumps to over a meter in diameter, with erect, bluntly 4-angled stems 5 to 15 cm tall and 1-1.5 cm thick; the leaves are 0.5-1 cm long and short-lived.
They bloom profusely in February-May; the distinctive flowers emit a strong musky odour and are 4.5-10 cm in diameter, usually deep brown to purple-black and mottled with pale yellow (sometimes the yellow spots are so dense that the colour pattern is almost reversed); the lobes are fringed with vibratile white or purple hairs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ruschia grisea

This is one of those Ruschia species which give the impression of being stem rather than leaf succulents.
In his magnum opus FLOWERING STONES AND MID-DAY FLOWERS ( published in 1957), Gustav Schwantes has to say the following on this topic:
A number of species are interesting because their leaves appear to be much shortened. In Lampranthus also one sees that the pairs of leaves, arranged cross-wise to each other, are partly united at the base. In this way a quite short tube is formed which is called the leaf sheath. In many species of Ruschia this sheath is considerably longer and united to the stem which it surrounds like a sleeve*.
The free leaf tips are often very short so that altogether there is a considerable reduction of the leaf surface. The stem itself cannot be seen. Where the parts of the leaf that are united into a sheath join there is a seam-like groove, which runs down from one pair of leaves to the next. In this way very remarkable structures are produced. They look somewhat like Horse Tails and present a very antediluvian appearance in consequence; but for us they represent more interesting evidence of the struggle these plants have with the fearful, pitiless African sun. We find therefore, that these very distinct thirst-endurers which, owing to the reduction in the size of the leaves, lose less water by evaporation, occur in arid and barren areas. Such a Ruschia, by its habit, when flowers and fruits appear in long lines on the apparently withered stems, is a most unusual sight.

       *Even after the transfer of about a hundred of these species to the genus Antimima, at least twenty of the remaining Ruschias show this phenomenon. (See posts on R. crassaimpressakarrooica).

R. grisea grows into a lax shrublet to 30 cm tall with stiff, spreading branches.
The leaf sheath is up to 5 mm long; the free parts are 2-4 mm long and bear 1 or 2 small teeth at the tip. The pale pink flowers are about 1.4 cm in diameter and appear in November-December.
One can come across this species on shale flats from the Little Karoo to the Calvinia-Sutherland and the Middelburg area.

Frithia pulchra (Guest column by Theo Heijnsdijk)

The first record
In January 1906, Ms. Olive Nation found a peculiar little plant. It was growing “on the top of the Magaliesberg, 5500 ft.”, near Rustenburg (South Africa). Today, that area belongs to the Northwest province, but at that time it was part of the now-defunct Transvaal province. She sent the plant to Kew Botanic Gardens near London for identification. Unfortunately, it did not survive the trip, but from the remnants, Kew botanist N.E. Brown deducted that it had to be a new species. Ms. Nation died not long afterward and attempts to get more specimens came to nothing.

“It bears a flower so it must be a plant”
Until in 1924 Mr. and Mrs. Dobie, who lived in the same area, on a Sunday hike in the mountains, suddenly saw reddish-purple flowers that seemed to grow directly from crevices in the rocks. Upon further examination, the flowers were found to be attached to small plants, consisting of 6 to12 short rods that were almost completely covered by the flowers. “Here’s something for your collection. It bears a flower so it must be a plant, Mr. Dobie is believed to have told his wife.

The first description
Mrs. Dobie sent a specimen to Frank Frith (1872 – 1954) in Johannesburg, a botanist who worked for the South African railways. Frith also came looking for it himself and he submitted some of the collected plants for the ‘South African Rockery’ of the Wembley Exhibition of 1924 (a kind of World Exhibition).
On December 10, 1924, Frith wrote to Mrs. Dobie:

That professor was the famous Nicholas Edward Brown, who worked in Kew from1873 until his death in 1934. In the 1920’s he separated many genera from the ever-expanding genus Mesembryanthemum. In the identification key he published in the journal ‘Gardeners’ Chronicle’ in November 1925, the generic name Frithia first appears. The description of the only species in that genus, F. pulchra, followed in 1926. He named the genus Frithia, to honor Frank Frith. In view of the above, it would have made more sense to call it Dobiea. The species name pulchra, by the way, is derived from the Latin pulcher = beautiful.
The original material collected and supplied by Frith is still present in Kew’s herbarium (fig. 1).

Fig. 1. Kew’s herbarium sheet with the original material collected by Frith in 1924.

Brown added an exclamation mark after his remark that the flowers of this plant lasted for up to three weeks.

The first published image
The oldest image known to me appeared in 1927 as record 275 in the seventh part of the magazine ‘The Flowering Plants of South Africa’ (fig. 2).

Fig. 2. Plate 275 of ‘The flowering plants of South Africa’ from 1927.

This magazine, published annually since1921 and edited by I.B. Pole-Evans, is reminiscent of the well-known ‘Curtis’s Botanical Magazine’: always a botanical drawing with many details on a full page, followed by a text of 1 to 2 pages. In this way, 40 plants were depicted and discussed each year. F. pulchra’s drawing was created by botanical artist Beatrice Orchard Carter; the text accompanying the image is by Louisa Bolus.

 Rapid integration
Amazingly, the species – of which only one locality was recorded at the time – quickly became widely known. As early as 1927, a slide of a F. pulchra in bloom was displayed at a meeting of the ‘s Gravenhage (Netherlands) branch of the succulent plant lovers’ association Succulenta. In 1928, Mr. E.J. Labarre (member of Succulenta since its inception in 1919) wrote an article in the weekly magazine ‘Onze Tuinen’ about Frithia. He had received plants from Mrs. Dobie himself and donated a seed tray full of them to the Botanic Garden of Amsterdam. In the same year, an article by the same writer appeared in the monthly magazine ‘Succulenta’, titled “The Frithia blooms!” with a picture of another seed pan, this time with flowering plants. With this exhibit, Mr. Labarre won a certificate of merit at the show of the Amsterdam Hortus. He added: ‘The finder, Mrs. Dobie, has always called them ‘Fairy Elephants’ Feet’. Isn’t that a suitable name for those who are romantically inclined?”
The name Fairy Elephants’ Feet is still used. In South Africa the plant is also referred to as  ‘Bobbejaanvingers’  (a bobbejaan is a baboon),  ‘glasies’  (glasses), ‘toontjies’  (toes) and  ‘Baby Toes’. Also called ‘Purple Baby Toes’ to distinguish it from the Fenestraria’s, which look like it and are also called ‘Baby Toes’ but have white or yellow flowers.

 Occurrence in nature
The plant also became a popular species in South Africa itself. This is evident from a comprehensive report in ‘Succulenta’ (8 pages) of a trip by Mr. F.W. Reitz of Pretoria in1935 from his hometown to the Rustenburg Gorge. Below are some of the passages from his report:

Being a passionate succulent collector, I already consider myself owning an extensive collection of succulents and also some rare cacti. However, the heavy rains of last November have ruined all my Frithia pulchra, so I planned to search for some of those beautiful plants.

A little further, diagonally opposite Rustenburg Gorge, lives Mrs. Dobie, the discoverer of Frithia pulchra. I know her well and had promised her I would come and see her collection of rare succulents.

That fine rose flower on the crystal-white quartz grit was the purpose of our trip, Carefully I wiped away the gravel, and only then did the characteristic rods emerge, with their transparent windows that absorb the sunlight, since the plant itself does not expose itself in order to protect itself from the drought. With long spikes, which Mrs. Dobie had supplied, we managed to remove the plants from the crevices: it had to be done very carefully because they were well secured, and the Frithias are very delicate. When I removed the gravel over a greater surface, it turned out that the ground was literally dotted with Frithia pulchra, and that without realizing it, we had walked over them. But it is remarkable that only on those flats covered with fine gravel and in solid rocks this special succulent could be found. Dry, intensely dry, it has to be there. And the power of the sun at 4500 feet (1372 m) above sea level, where the average winter temperature is 58° F. (14 °C), the average summer temperature is 72° F (22  °C)., and the average annual rainfall is only 25 inches  (635 mm), must be very strong.

The removal of these petite plants was not easy, but in the course of half an hour, we had more than 100 of them together. Carefully they were packed in a bag, and, glad to have achieved our goal, we made our way back.

Before packing the car and setting out on the return journey, I filled two flour bags with pure white quartz gravel. This came in handy, because I now keep my Frithia pulchra in a box, in which I have tried to imitate the natural conditions at the site on the mountain as faithfully as possible. Yet I have failed to keep the whole treasure alive. Within a week, about 50% of my Frithias suddenly dried up. The rest, on the other hand, is safe and sound. I am very satisfied with the result. Frithia pulchra possesses the same property as many other aristocratic plants, i.e. that they are very difficult to replant and very peculiar about unaccustomed living conditions: too much water, too rich soil and too little gravel can be the cause of Frithia pulchra’s death.

So much for Mr. Reitz’s account. This story clearly shows that you can easily overlook the plants.
In figure 3 we see what looks like a piece of land with some grassy plant growth. But in reality, it’s full of F. pulchra. Within the red circle, there are three clusters.


Fig. 3. Locality somewhere southeast of Rustenburg. In the indicated area there are 3 clusters of Frithia pulchra. Photo Werner du Toit

Figure 4 shows the same site with a corresponding circle.
Fig. 4. Many specimens of Frithia pulchra among quartz gravel and in crevices, with the same area encircled as in fig. 3. Photo Werner du Toit

These photos by Werner du Toit were taken on January 28, 2017, in the middle of the growing period. In the dry season (winter), the plant tissue contracts due to dehydration and so the plant bodies are even pulled completely into the ground. The quartz gravel in which the plants grow can become very hot in summer. In harsh winters it may freeze there. In summer it can rain heavily and the plants clearly enjoy that.  Flowering in South Africa also takes place in summer (December through February).

Fig. 5. Frithia pulchra in bloom in habitat at the end of January. Photo Werner du Toit

Nature conservation
Fortunately, in these times people no longer work as described above by Mr. Reitz. On the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, F. pulchra has the status of ‘vulnerable’. The distribution area is limited to a number of localities in the Magaliesberg region and is estimated to be less than 5 km2. The biggest threat is illegal collection, but it is assumed that this has not had a major impact on the occurrence of the species. The populations are stable. The fact that the plant is easy to grow and that plants collected in the wild usually die may play a role in this.   The area of the Magaliesberg is now a protected nature reserve, the Magaliesberg Protected Environment (MPE). It runs roughly from Rustenburg to Pretoria.

The genus Frithia
As mentioned above, the genus Frithia was established in1925. Today it is one of more than 120 genera in the Ruschioideae, one of the five subfamilies of the large family of Aizoaceae  (the ice plant family). The grouping into genera is based, among other things, on the construction of the seed capsules and therefore not easy to understand for the average enthusiast. The genus Frithia however is easy to tell apart from the genus Fenestraria – which at first glance bears a lot of resemblance to Frithia – by the way the leaves are arranged. In Frithia, the leaf position is spiral, whereas in Fenestraria the leaves are placed crosswise. Also, in Fenestraria the leaf surface is smooth, whereas in Frithia it is divided into tiny lens-like structures (fig. 6 and fig. 7).

Fig. 6. In Frithia, the leaf surface is covered with lens-like structures. Photo Theo Heijnsdijk
Fig. 7. Six-week-old seedlings of Frithia pulchra. The first ‘rod’ with lens-like structure develops between the cotyledons. Photo Theo Heijnsdijk

In his 1925 description of both genera, Brown commented that the leaf surfaces do not contain chlorophyll. He indicated that you can easily ascertain this by cutting off the top of a leaf and looking at it against the light. This works, but it’s also quite destructive.

 A second species
Brown knew one species: F. pulchra. In 1968 H.W. de Boer described in ’Succulenta’ some different plants that he had received from a C.G. Booker in Transvaal. The deviations concerned the much smaller leaves and flowers, the colour of the leaves (“rose-like greenish-brown”), and the colour of the flowers (white with the tips of the petals tinted rose-violet). The locality could not be established because Mr. Booker had since died. De Boer described this form as F. pulchra var. minor (= smaller). Because no material was deposited in a herbarium, the description is invalid. In the year 2000 Patricia Burgoyne et al. described the plant as a new species: Frithia humilis. According to the dictionaries, humilis means low or near the ground, but according to Burgoyne it is ‘smaller than others of its kind’. One of the photos accompanying the 1968 article by de Boer is now the lectotype of F. humilis.
Bronkhorstspruit, about 50 km east of Pretoria, is indicated as locality (fig. 8 and 9).

Fig. 8. Frithia humilis north of Bronkhorstspruit .  Photo Sean Gildenhuys


Fig. 9. Frithia humilis north of or Bronkhorstspruit in bloom. Photo Sean Gildenhuys

It is worth noting that Louisa Bolus in ‘The Flowering Plants of South Africa’ mentions that the South African lawyer and plant collector Douglas Gilfinnan had already found F. pulchra at the place Witbank at the end of December 1905, just a few weeks before Mrs. Nation. That is about 200 km east of Rustenburg and about 40 km east of Bronkhorstspruit. This may also be F. humilis.

Cultivation
In cultivation, we grow Frithia pulchra with its leaves above the ground. The risk of rot is high if we don’t. The soil should be granular and well permeable with a small proportion of organic matter. Keep absolutely dry in winter. The plants will certainly start to shrivel then. In spring, light misting is recommended. Once the plants are filled out, you need to water them regularly. The plants should not start to shrivel during this time. Flowering time occurs with me in the Netherlands in June-July. It is wise to limit the amount of water afterward, because the growing period is rather short.

Fig. 10. Frithia pulchra flowering in cultivation. Photo Theo Heijnsdijk

Propagation by sowing works fine, but is also possible by cuttings. This is done by carefully dividing a rosette in half and planting the pieces after the wounds have dried. But don’t do this if it’s your only plant, as there’s a good chance of rot occurring.

Literature
Boer, H.W. de (1968). Frithia pulchra var. minor 47: 147.
Bolus, L. (1927) Frithia pulchra, The flowering plants of South Africa 7: text accompanying  plate  275.
Brown, N.E. (1925). Mesembryanthemum and some new genera separated from it. The Gardeners’ chronicle  78: 433.
Brown, N.E. (1926). Ficoidaceae in J Burtt Davy, Manual of the Flowering Plants and Ferns of the Transvaal 1: 41, 162.
Burgoyne, P.M. & Smith, G.F. & Plessis, F. du. (2000).  Notes on the genus Frithia (Mesembryanthemaceae) and the description of a new species, E humilis, in South Africa, Bothalia 30 (1): 1 – 7.
Labarre, E.J. (1928). De Frithia pulchra, of romantiek in de  botanie, Onze tuinen 23 (6): 61.
Labarre, E.J. (1928). De Frithia bloeit!, Succulenta 10 (12): 215 – 219.
Reitz, F.W. (1935). Frithia pulchra, Succulenta 17 (6): 81 and 17 (7): 97.

First published in Succulenta 99 (2), 2020. Translated from the Dutch by F.N.

 

 

 

 

Drosanthemum albiflorum

Although the specific name means “with white flowers”, it is not uncommon to come across plants of this species with light to dark pink flowers.
They form erect, much-branched shrublets to 15 cm tall, with leaves that are 7-10 mm long and 4 mm thick, round in cross-section, and with a blunt tip.
Between August and November, the plants produce their flowers at the tips of the branches; they are up to 17 mm in diameter.
In certain parts of the distribution area – stretching from Matjiesfontein to Robertson and Riversdale –  the plants grow in abundance.

Euphorbia grandicornis (Guest column by Theo Heijnsdijk)

Name
Euphorbia grandicornis is a representative of the large group within the genus of shrub-like succulents with spine pairs, also referred to as the diacanthium section. Plants belonging to this group usually have 2 spines that are facing outwards from the edge of a shield. Another example of a member of this group is E. canariensis. Sometimes there are 3 or 4 spines and sometimes only one (for example, in E. unispina).
Grandicornis literally means ‘with large horns’.
In English-speaking countries, the plant is also called ‘Cow’s horn Euphorbia’. The thorns remind me more of the tentacles of a snail. See Fig. 1.

In the next image, we see (between the spines) the scars of the tiny leaves that are formed in the new growth and that will soon turn yellow, shrivel, and fall off.

Other names that are widely used are ‘Big horned Euphorbia’, ‘Rhino thorn’ and even ‘Zig-Zag Cactus’. There is also a cristate form and this looks even much more ferocious than the normal plant. In Afrikaans, the plant is called renosterdoring (a renoster is a rhinoceros and doring stands for thorn).

History
The plant has probably been in cultivation for quite a long time, but for many years it went undescribed.
We first come across the name Euphorbia grandicornis in 1889 in the first part of the 2-volume book ‘Pflanzenbiologische Schilderungen’ by the German professor of botany dr. Karl Immanuel Eberhard Ritter von Goebel. In a general story about Euphorbias, he discusses a number of aspects of E. grandicornis as if it were a well-known plant. It is nothing like what we mean by a description nowadays. However, we do find a beautiful pen drawing of a top cutting (Fig. 3).

In addition, there is a drawing of the leaves in the new growth and of a cross-section of the trunk in which the peculiar, twisted shape of the winged ribs is clearly illustrated (Fig. 4).

Von Goebel reports that he has not been able to find any data on the habitat. However, from the physical appearance of the plant with the wide thin ribs and therefore a large surface area – similar to, for example, leaf cacti- he concludes that it is unlikely to be exposed to long dry periods in its natural environment.
After von Goebel it was quiet until 1893. In that year, an article by a Mr. J.E. Weiss, Reader in botany, appeared in the periodical ‘Dr. Neubert’s Deutsches Garten-Magazin’ under the title “Empfehlenswerte Cacteen” (“recommendable cacti”). He took the concept of cactus rather broadly because the last ‘cactus’ discussed in his article is Euphorbia grandicornis. There is even a photo, the very first one published, but the print quality was rather poor in those days (Fig. 5).

Original description
The plant was still not officially described at the time. That was done in 1897 by Nicholas Edward Brown in part 26 of Hooker’s Icones Plantarum. That is why the author’s citation which is always added to the species name in scientific literature, in this case is ‘Goebel ex N.E. Br.’. The description by Brown, who was employed by Kew Gardens near London, was based on a plant that had been cultivated there since 1876. The description with Latin diagnosis was accompanied by two drawings of quite a big specimen. I don’t particularly like these drawings. Brown also mentioned a locality: South Africa, Umfolosi River, Zululand.

Habitat
Nevertheless, there was apparently uncertainty as to where the plant occurred in nature, because in 1904 in Engler’s ‘Botanische Jahrbücher’ ( ‘Botanical Yearbooks’) in a monography on Euphorbia’s in the section Diacanthium the author, F. Pax, writes: “Vaterland unbekannt, vielleicht Africa”  (Native country unknown, maybe Africa). And in 1907 Alwin Berger in his ‘Sukkulente Euphorbien’ says: “Homeland ?”  and further down:
The origin of the plant is unknown. However, it is not plausible that it was only recently introduced, because the large specimen in Kew mentioned above, indicates that it is an old inhabitant of our greenhouses.). Brown and others later compiled the part about the Euphorbiaceae in Sir William T Thiselthon-Dyer’s ‘Flora Capensis’. This part appeared in 1915 and here E. grandicornis is also treated.  The last line I find quite funny: “Distribution: Easter Region: Zululand, stone! Marriott! And cultivated specimens!”.
I suspect Marriott is a name, but I haven’t been able to find any information. But especially all those exclamation marks intrigue me. I have no idea what the writer wanted to emphasize with this.
In modern literature, it is made clear that the range is quite large: South Africa (Kwazulu-Natal), Swaziland, Mozambique, Kenya. There the plants grow at low altitudes (up to 400 m) in small groups between grass or shrubs. They have 3 or 4 ribs and can be up to 2 m tall. It seems that large plants often succumb to their own weight. The variety sejuncta (described in 1970 by Leach), which remains smaller and sometimes grows lying down, has 2 or 3 ribs and is known only from a site in Mozambique. There it grows in the company of Aloe chabaudii, Euphorbia corniculata and E. tirucalli on granite slopes at altitudes between 380 and 700 meters.

Flowering
In a sunny location, a plant that is preparing to flower stands out because of the vivid red colour of the developing cyathia (Fig. 6).

These appear on the uppermost and therefore youngest, segments of the stems. There are always 3 cyathia together, but often only the middle one will fully develop. It only produces male flowers (stamens). The two outer cyathia are bisexual. First, the male flowers develop (Fig. 7)

and when they dry out, the female flower (pistil, fig. 8) follows.

All cyathia are bright yellow in colour. This type of inflorescence with a central male inflorescence flanked by 2 bisexual cyathia is often found in Euphorbias, for example in E. canariensis.
Ripe fruits are about 8 mm in diameter and purplish-red in colour (Fig. 9).

Fruit formation in a E. grandicornis in Jan Celliers Park (Pretoria, South Africa).  Photo Dr. Johann C. Knobel.

Cultivation
A well-drained mixture with little organic material and a lot of additions such as lava, pumice, clay chunks, etc. is recommended. It’s best not to use peat. Give ample water from March to September. In winter, the temperature should be at least 12 °C, but preferably a little higher. Propagation is by cuttings, which root quite easily, or by sowing. Seed is fairly well available and it is fascinating to see how a wildly thorned plant develops from the delicate seedling with its 2 cotyledons (Fig. 10).

In frost-free areas, E. grandicornis is recommended for hedges. Pruning is well tolerated. Goats eat the corners off but leave the thorny sides alone. The juice doesn’t seem to hurt them.

Literature:
Berger, A. (1907). Sukkulente Euphorbien: 52-53.
Brown, N.E. (1897). Hooker’s Icones Plantarum 26, plates 2531, 2532.
Brown, N.E.; Hutchinson, J.; Prain, D. (1915). Euphorbiaceae in Thiselton-Dyer, Flora Capensis 5, sect 2, part 2: 367-368.
Goebel, K. von (1889). ‘Pflanzenbiologische Schilderungen’ 1: 62-63.
Pax, F. (1905).. Monographische Übersicht über die afrikanische Arten aus der Sektion Diacanthium der Gattung Euphorbia in Engler’s Botanische Jahrbücher 34: 74.
Weiss, J.E. (1893). Dr. Neubert’s Deutsches Garten-Magazin 46: 291.

First published in Succulenta 92 (4) 2013. Translation from the Dutch by F.N.

 

Crassula multicava (Guest column by Theo Heijnsdijk)

Crassula multicava (Fig. 1) is a sparsely branched plant with fleshy stems up to about 30 cm long and. 1 cm thick. Long stems lie down and form new roots as well as branches from the leaf axils. The leathery leaves are up to 6,5 cm long and 4 cm wide. Towards the stem, each leaf narrows down to a petiole (leaf stalk), which is fused with that of the opposite leaf, giving the impression that the stem has grown through them.C. multicava occurs in South Africa (Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape) and was described by Lemaire as early as 1872. Multicava means: with many cavities. This refers to the upper side of the leaf, which is littered with many round dimples, somewhat like an orange (see Fig. 2 below),

(giving rise to the name ‘Pitted Crassula’. The dimples are so-called hydathodes, a name for glands that can excrete moisture. Such glands occur in many plant genera, and they can be of different anatomical origins. In Crassulas, they are converted stomata. As a rule, hydathodes are intended to get rid of excess moisture, but that sounds rather strange for succulents, who need to lose as little moisture as possible. Gordon Rowley in his book ‘Crassula’ suggests the possibility that during the day when temperatures are very high, air bubbles are formed in the vascular system of the plant so that the juice flow is blocked (embolism), comparable to air bubbles in a garden hose. At night, the plant would then supply extra water from the roots, thereby increasing the pressure so that the air dissolves back into the plant juice. Then the excess water must evaporate again via the hydathodes. Rowley invites readers to come up with a better theory.

In a shady place, the leaves are fairly light green (Fig.3 above).
In a sunny position, they stay smaller and are much darker green with the leaf edges and hydathodes turning brownish-red. By the way, in dappled shade, they also grow better than in full sun. In Afrikaans, the plant is not called ‘skaduplakkie’ (shadow crassula) without reason.

My first introduction to the species was during the Christmas holidays of 2005, when I stayed on the Canary Island of Gomera. I went for a walk near the apartment and came across a garden in which the soil was covered with a layer of perennial succulents with lots of pink flowers. By the way, the plant had not kept to the boundaries of the garden. Of course, there was no name sign. In May 2008, I saw the plant for a second time (now properly labeled), as a ground cover in a bed with other succulents in a greenhouse of the Botanical Garden of Berlin.

In my greenhouse (in the Netherlands) the plant blooms abundantly from March /April until well into autumn. The flowers are rather loosely arranged in the inflorescence, which results in a somewhat unkempt look. (Fig. 4 below).

It reminds one of a cloud of mosquitoes and I think that is why the plant is sometimes called the ‘Mosquito Flower’ in America.
Crassula flowers perfectly conform to the prototype of a flower as you find in, for example, a biology book for schools. From the outside going to the centre, one first comes across the calyx leaves, then, alternating in position relative to these, the same number of petals, then alternating again, the same number of stamens and lastly, in alternating position again, the same number of pistils on top of the ovary. Such a flower structure with all this in equal numbers is called isomerous. With most Crassulas, the flowers are 5-merous, so 5 of all the above parts, but in C. multicava the flowers are usually 4-merous. They are white inside and pink on the outside  (Fig. 5).

The appearance of the star-shaped pink flower is the reason that the plant is called ‘feetjie plakkie’ or ‘feetjie crassula’ in Afrikaans. A feetjie is a fairy in English, so there it becomes fairy crassula. In Australia, the plant is called ‘London Pride’, because the plant in flower resembles Saxifraga ‘London Pride’, used as a ground cover in England. By the way, ‘London Pride’ is also the name for a multi-award-winning English beer variety.

Due to the large number of flowers, the flowering stems bend to the ground. By the time the flowering season ends, miniature versions of the plant (called bulbils, see Fig. 6 and 7 below) appear here and there on the flower stalks.

This is quite normal for some Kalanchoes (Bryophyllums), but exceptional in the genus Crassula. These plantlets easily become detached from the mother plant and then quickly take root. This way, in a suitable climate such as in the Canary Islands, the plant can become a pest. The name ‘Cape Province Pygmy weed’ also refers to the rampant character. I don’t know what it has to do with pygmies, but maybe it only refers to the small size of each plant.

The regenerative capacity of C. multicava is phenomenal. As early as 1938, a scientific paper was published describing how new plants can emerge from epidermis cells of small cut-off pieces of leaf. In these times of tissue culture, this may not sound so spectacular, but at the time it was considered a unique trait.
Rowley attributes the great regenerative capacity and the forming of bulbils to the large number of chromosomes of C. multicava. As we know, almost all hereditary information of an organism is recorded on the chromosomes, which are located in the nucleus of each cell. In general, in a nucleus there are 2 sets of chromosomes, 1 set originated from the father and 1 set from the mother. This is called diploid and the number of chromosomes is then indicated as 2n. The number of chromosomes  in a set is indicated by the letter x. Normally,  x  =  n. For a fruit fly x = 4 applies, for a human x = 23, for a guinea pig x = 32  and for most Crassulas  x  = 7. A human being has 2n = 2x = 46 chromosomes. In some species there are more than 2 sets and such a cell is called polyploid. In plant species that are normally diploid, polyploidy often leads to larger individuals or larger flowers. In Crassula, no less than 44% of the species are polyploid. The champion is C. spathulata with 2n = 20x = 140,  which indicates 20 sets of 7  chromosomes per cell nucleus. C. multicava comes second with 2n = 16x = 112, so 16 sets.
I must admit that the link between a high number of chromosomes and a high reproductive capacity is not clear to me. Of other polyploid Crassulas it is not recorded that they reproduce so easily and neither do they do form bulbils, whereas C. cordata, which does make bulbils, is just diploid. Maybe someone should come up with a better theory here, too.

As for cultivation: frost-free, although they seem to be able to endure a single bit of frost without damage. Otherwise indestructible. The plant also grows well in shade.

There is a subspecies,  C. multicava subsp. floribunda. This one is a bit more robust in all parts and the flowers are 5-merous. It has a cultivar, C. multicava subsp. floribunda ‘Panache’, in which the edges of the leaves are whitish-yellow. C. multicava subsp. multicava, on the other hand, has a forma ‘Variegata’  in which the leaves are green at the edges but yellow in the centre.

Literature:
Harders, C.L. (1932). Crassulaceae, Succulenta 15 (11): 207.
Rowley, G. (2003).  Crassula, Cactus & Co.
McVeigh, I (1938). Regeneration in Crassula multicava, American Journal of Botany 25: 7 -11.

First published in Succulenta 90, (1) 2011. Translated from the Dutch by FN.

Cephalophyllum purpureo-album

Because of the epithet purpureo-album (purple-white), one would expect most -if not all- plants of the species to have purple flowers with white stamens. That may have been the case in the plant on which the original description was based, but yellow flowers with pale yellow (or white) stamens are much more common.

The plants form clumps up to 60 cm in diameter with more or less cylindrical, mostly dark green leaves, which are about 6-10 cm long and more slender than in other Cephalophyllums.
In May-September, they produce yellow or pale purple flowers up to 5 cm in diameter with 70-110 petals and up to 260 stamens. The number of compartments in the fruits is also high (13-17).

Judging from the number of synonyms (C. aurantiacum, C. gracile, C. littlewoodii, C. middlemostii, C. paucifolium, C. serratulum and C. worcesterense), the species is quite variable.
It occurs in the western Little Karoo and in the Robertson Karoo, where the plants are often locally abundant in open patches on sandy, loamy or gravelly flats.
In a suitable (Mediterranean-like) climate, the species – just as many other Cephalophyllums- will make an excellent garden plant.

 

Kumara plicatilis (Guest column by Theo Heijnsdijk)

History
Kumara plicatilis, better known as Aloe plicatilis, has been in cultivation for a very long time. It is certain that around 1690, the plant was grown in the famous garden of the United East-India Company (VOC) in Cape Town (now called the Company’s Garden). It was more than 60 years before 1753 when Linnaeus introduced the binary nomenclature in his ‘Species Plantarum’ in which species were recorded by means of a genus name followed by the species name. Until then, people used a short description in Latin. In this case:
Aloe Africana arborescens Montana non Spinosa, folio longissimo plicatili, Flore rubro.
In English, this roughly means: “an African aloe developing into a tree, growing in the mountains, without spines, with very long folded leaves and red flowers”.
Obviously, referring to a plant or animal in this way becomes overly complex as more and more species are discovered.

The Latin description was given by Heinrich Bernhard Oldenland, a.k.a. Henrik Bernard Oldenland (in botanical literature: Henricus Bernardus Oldenlandus). He was born in Germany in or around 1663, studied medicine and botany in Leiden, and had arrived in Cape Town in 1688 as an employee of the VOC. It is quite possible that in 1689 he himself brought along K. plicatilis as a participant in a 3-month expedition that went all the way to present-day Aberdeen. From 1693 until his early death in 1697, he was the head of the company garden.

The oldest known image of K. plicatilis is a water colour painting made in 1694 by Alida Withoos (fig. 1). This painting and 12 other water colours were commissioned by Joan Huydecoper, who between 1673 and 1693 was mayor of Amsterdam no less than 13 times, and Jan Commelin  (Joanne Commelino), a merchant in herbs and medicinal drugs, whose last name is also spelled Commelijn. In 1682, these two gentlemen had initiated the creation of a Hortus Medicus (a garden with medicinal plants) in Amsterdam. Such a garden already existed at the Binnengasthuis, but as garden lovers, they wanted to make the scope a bit wider and also offer space for ornamental plants. So, in fact, they established a botanical garden (the forerunner of the current Hortus Botanicus). Thanks to their many contacts (Huydecoper was a member of the board of the VOC and a cousin of Simon van der Stel, the governor of the Cape of Good Hope), they were able to obtain plant material from many parts of the world.

The Moninckx atlas
Huydecoper and Commelin did not create a herbarium, but instead, they set up a kind of image bank. They called it “Figures of foreign plants, in the Medicinal Garden of the city of Amsteldam”. The image bank consists of 420 water colours on sheets of parchment paper about 56 by 40 cm in size. These paintings were produced between 1686 and 1707. By far most of them (273) were made by Jan Moninckx. In addition, 101 were made by Maria Moninckx (it is unknown which family relationship these two had). Then of course  Alida Withoos with 13 works and finally Johanna Helena Herolt-Graff with 2 drawings. The remaining 31 water colours are not signed. Alida Withoos also painted Tulista (Haworthia) minima as part of the same assignment, a duo – water colour of Haw. retusa with Tulista (Haw.) margaritifera and also Aloe vera. For the latter she used two sheets of parchment: one was for the plant with the lower part of the flower stem and on the other sheet the flower stem continued to end in a beautiful, branched bunch of yellow flowers. The parchment sheets were later pasted on paper and bound. All this resulted in eight tomes. The complete series is called the Moninckx atlas. The tomes were published between 1686 and 1709. All 420 plates can be seen on the website of the University of Amsterdam. In 1749 a ninth part was started but eventually contained only five paintings.

Jan Commelin had also begun to depict and describe the plants in the Hortus Medicus in a series of books, but he died in1692. The first volume, called “Rariorum Plantarum Horti Medici Amstelodamensis descriptio & icones” appeared posthumously in 1697. After this, the work was continued by his nephew and successor Casper, a.k.a. Casparo Commelino. In 1701, part 2 was published. In this section, the South African plants, including Kumara plicatilis are discussed. One of the nice things about these books is that everything, including the title sheet, is written in both Latin and Dutch. See figure 2 for the Dutch title sheet.
In describing K. plicatilis, he writes “This plant grows at the Cape of Good Hope on high mountains in the rocks thirteen feet high, and one and a half feet thick and bears flowers in the month of October“. He also mentions, among other things, that the older leaves are not stiff as in most Aloes, but slightly folded. This explains the name plicatilis (= folded). In drawing 3, the leaves are also clearly shown this way. He goes on to write that the plant has been growing in the Hortus Medicus for many years, but without flowering and that the flowers and the fruit have been re-drawn from a book by Nicolaas Witsen “who has lent me this book showing all kinds of plants in Africa painted from life”. Nicholas Witsen was also mayor of Amsterdam (between 1682 and 1706) and administrator of the VOC and friends with Simon van der Stel and his son and successor Willem Adriaen. He also was an enthusiastic collector of fossils, minerals, archaeological finds, animals, plants, and drawings of all that. The drawings of South African plants and animals were collected in three tomes called the ‘Codex Witsenii’. Of these, only Part 1 has been preserved. K. plicatilis is not mentioned in there.

Nomenclature
Linnaeus described the species in 1753 as a variety of Aloe disticha (distichus = in two rows). In 1768, Philip Miller elevated the variety to species. Those who search well can also find the plant under the name Aloe linguaeformis (1782, Linnaeus the younger), Aloe tripetala (1783, Friedrich Medikus), Aloe lingua (1785, Thunberg), Kumara disticha (Friedrich Medikus,1786), A. flabelliformis (Salisbury,1796), Rhipidodendrum plicatile (Haworth, 1821) and also under some even less well-known names. Lingua, by the way, means tongue and linguaeformis is tongue-shaped, obviously referring to the shape of the leaf.
The name Aloe, by the way, is many centuries old. It is assumed to come from the Arabic ‘alloh’ (or ‘alloch’ or ‘alloeh’), which is the name for bitter substances such as the juice of aloes.
The fan-shaped growth, K. plicatilis has in common with K. haemanthifolia, which occurs in the same area. Until recently, both were classified in the subgenus ‘Kumara’. Partly on the basis of DNA research, this subgenus was recently (2013) elevated to genus level.
In South Africa, an Aloe is often called an Aalwyn. Because of its shape, K. plicatilis is called the ‘Fanaalwyn’. The name ‘Bergaalwyn’ is also used in connection with the occurrence in the mountains. The leaf shape gives rise to the name ‘Tongaalwyn’. The name ‘Franschoekaalwyn’ (after the habitat) is also used. while the resemblance to Aloidendron (Aloe) dichotomum (the quiver tree) has earned it the name ‘Cape Quiver Tree’.

Nature
The species occurs in the mountains of the Western Cape, from Elandskloof to Franschhoek. This is an area with a Mediterranean climate and rainfall mainly in winter. The annual rainfall is between 600 and 1500 mm.
The plants grow on steep, rocky slopes facing south (please remember, that in the southern hemisphere this is the side with the least sun) in well-drained, sandy, slightly acidic soil. See images 4 – 6. They can become up to 5 meters tall. In nature, only the tops of the stems bear leaves. These are strap-shaped, up to 30 cm long, and 4 cm wide. Salm-Dyck also described a var. major in which the leaves grow to more than 30 cm long and 5 cm wide, but to me that does not sound like a substantial difference.

It seems that there are about seventeen separate localities, all of which are at least 10 km apart. Although the species is quite rare, it is not threatened. There are several protected areas in which the plants occur, such as the Jonkershoek Nature Reserve, the Hottentots Holland Nature Reserve, the Limit Mountain Nature Reserve, and Horse Mountain Nature Reserve.
In nature, plants are sometimes damaged by the Cape klipdas (Procavia capensis capensis), which in South Africa is called ‘dassie’.
In periods of drought, these animals, which look a bit like guinea pigs, climb to the top of the branches, where they first gnaw away the bark and then feast on the juicy inner parts.  They continue to do that until the branch collapses. If the fallen branch does not end up on bare rock, but on soil, it will root quite quickly. A kind of unintentional propagation.

The habitats are characterized by the typically South African fynbos vegetation (Mediterranean-like), with among other things Protea and Erica species. As Commelin reported, the plants bloom in October, at the end of winter.

As is the case with A. vera, the sap has healing properties associated with injuries and is sometimes drunk to stimulate the immune system. There are also reports that the juice is used as a remedy against diabetes.

Cultivation
K. plicatilis is easy to grow. Due to the fact that the conditions in cultivation are usually less harsh, the leaves are preserved for much longer, allowing the plants to bear leaves from bottom to top. See the photo of a specimen in Madeira’s botanical garden (fig. 7 and 8).

In accordance with the natural growing conditions, a well-drained soil with a pH  between 5.5 and 6.5 is recommended. In the Northern hemisphere, growth is in summer. In winter, the plant should be kept dry. In summer, they can also be kept outside. Propagation can be done by seed or cuttings. At 20°C, the seeds germinate after about 4 weeks. The species is known as a slow grower. Yet they can also reach a considerable size in cultivation, even in a greenhouse.

In 1904, Alwin Berger reported a crossing with Gonialoe (Aloe) variegata, the partridge Aloe. The hybrid was allegedly produced by the Englishman Justus Corderoy and was therefore called Aloe x Corderoyi. Maybe he expected the result of the cross between these totally different aloes to be something spectacular, but in fact, it was disappointing. The plants are very similar to  K. plicatilis. Only the leaves are arranged in a spiral around the trunk, in contrast to K. plicatilis, in which they are in two straight rows.

Literature:
Berger, A. (1904): A new Aloe hybrid, Monatschrift fuer Kakteenkunde 14:61
Commelin, C. (1701). Rariorum Plantarum Horti Medici Amstelodamensis Historia: 5
Engler, H.G.A. (1908). Das Pflanzenreich, regni vegetabilis conspectus, 38: 322 – 324
Website about the plants of South Africa: http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantab/aloeplicatilis.htm
The Moninckx Atlas can be found via the URL: https://allardpierson.nl/collecties/natuurlijke-historie/moninckx-atlas/moninckx-atlas-index/#l


Fig. 1. Water colour of Kumara plicatilis made by Alida Withoos for the Moninckx atlas in 1694.


Fig. 2. Title page of “Rariorum Plantarum Horti Medici Amstelodamensis Historia” (part 2) by Casper Commelin published in 1701.


Fig. 3. Drawing of Kumara plicatilis in “Rariorum Plantarum Horti Medici Amstelodamensis Historia” (part 2) by Casper Commelin published in 1701.


Fig. 4. A large Kumara plicatilis in the Du Toits gorge in the Western Cape
(photo Coby Keizer).


Fig. 5. In nature, only the tops of the branches of Kumara plicatilis bear leaves  (photo Wim Alsemgeest).


Fig. 6. In the new growth, the tips of the leaves are tinged red
(photo Bertus Spee).


Fig. 7. Kumara plicatilis in the Botanical Garden of Madeira in full swing with flowers and fruits.


Fig. 8. Kumara plicatilis in bloom in the Botanical Garden of Madeira.

 

 

 

Aloe humilis (Hedgehog Aloe, Krimpvarkieaalwyn)

Although this species is very variable, it is easy to recognize (Aloe longistyla is somewhat similar, but usually grows as a single plant). The distribution area stretches from Mossel Bay to Graaff-Reinet and Somerset West, and the plants are most abundant in rocky loamy soils under shrubs. Plants from the Eastern Cape (pics 5 -7) are less robust than those from the southwestern part of the area (pics 1 – 4).

“Humilis” means “low growing” and refers to the stemless rosettes, which usually form dense clumps up to 40 cm or more in diameter. Each rosette consists of 20-30 leaves, erect or slightly incurved, with a distinct grey-green waxy layer, unspotted, about 10 cm long and up to 1.8 cm broad, with many small soft white prickles on both surfaces and soft white teeth along the margins.
About 20 flowers are gathered in single inflorescences of up to 35 cm tall. They appear from August to October and are scarlet or more rarely orange or yellow. With a length of about 4 cm, they are rather large for such a small plant.

It may be of interest to note that the species was cultivated in the Dutch East India Company’s garden in Cape Town as early as 1695.