South African succulents Archives - Page 4 of 47

Braunsia (Lampranthus) maximilianii

If I were to make a list of my favourite succulents, this species would have quite a high ranking on it. I’m not completely sure why that is: because of the beautifully shaped and coloured leaves, because of the delicate way the plants hug the ground, because of the size of the flowers compared to the rest of the plant or maybe a combination of all this. Their natural habitat is in shallow pans on rocks pavements, often together with moss, in the northernmost part of the Cape Province from the Bokkeveld Mts. to Piketberg. This area receives about 125 mm rainfall per year, mainly in winter.

The plants are mat-forming with creeping stems to 17 cm long, which form roots at the nodes.
They have boat-shaped, pale grey-green, velvety leaves with dark keel and margins and fused for more than half their length, 6-10 mm long, 5-6 mm wide and 6-8 mm thick.
The flowers are quite large (to 2.5 cm in diameter) and bright pink; they appear between July and October.

Common names: bloukraalvygie, kruipvygie

Note : the name of the species is spelt here with ‘ii’ because ‘Maximilian’ is not considered to be a latinized name, and therefore ‘maximiliani’ has to be corrected by adding an ‘i’ (ICBN Art. 60.11).

Euphorbia tuberosa (incl. E. crispa)

Common names: Melkbol, Wilderamenas

This member of a small group of geophytic Euphorbias has underground tubers up to 2.5 cm thick which can form large groups. The plants are stemless and either male or female.

Its leaves have a stalk up to 5 cm long and may be oblong to almost lanceolate, linear or elliptic,1 to 5 cm long and 0.5 to 2.5 cm wide, often minutely hairy and grey-green, usually with wavy margins. They are only present in the growing period.
The flowering season is mainly June-September.

The species occurs on sandy and gravelly flats and slopes from near Springbok to the Cape Peninsula and the western part of the Little Karoo.

Tylecodon ventricosus (incl. T. jarmiliae)

Common name klipnenta.
This is one of the most widespread Tylecodons, which probably explains the great variability of the species.

The plants have tuberous roots, with one stem or with several short or long stems (to 20 cm tall), forming small groups to ± 30 cm in diameter. The stems are erect to spreading and at least 8 mm thick, often with short to long phyllopodia (leaf bases).
Leaves are dry at flowering, green to yellowish-green, flattened, with great variation in shape (very narrow to lance- to heart-shaped) and size (3-9 x 0.5-2 cm) and with or without hairs or glands.
The erect to spreading flowers are arranged in an inflorescence up to 50 cm tall. They possess a corolla tube 1.6-2 cm long and 0.8-1.1 cm wide, which is much swollen (= ventricosus) about the middle and are yellowish-green streaked with purplish brown. Flowering time is between September and March.

Distribution
Occurring in rock crevices and on stony or sandy slopes, often under shrubs.
Widespread from the Richtersveld to Piketberg and the Little Karoo and eastwards to near De Aar and Jansenville. In most of this area, rain occurs mainly in winter.

Apparently, the plants are very toxic to stock.

Othonna cacalioides (incl. O. minima, O. pygmaea)

Othonna cacalioides is a dwarf compact caudiciform with a flattened potato-like caudex, most of which is below ground. The plant body is broader than tall and to 10 cm across, covered by a tough leathery bark of a muted brownish or orangish colour.
The branches are reduced to low lumps with thickish, 2-2.5 cm long, and 0.8-1 cm wide leaves (only present in winter and spring).
From May to October, the plants produce inflorescences with 2-8 cm long stalks, each with up to six small, yellow flower heads.

Usually, the plants are found in shallow rock pans with a thin layer of coarse sand in sandstone pavements in the Northern and Western Cape (Bokkeveld Mountains to Gifberg). Sometimes they occur in patches of greyish moss. In both cases, they are often and hard to find, especially when not in leaf.
Although they are slow-growing and difficult to keep alive, this seems to make them only more attractive to collectors.

P.S.
In 2012 the Swedish botanist Bertil Nordenstam created a new genus (Crassothonna) with 13 species, formerly part of Othonna. One of these species (O. carnosa), for nomenclatural reasons, had to be renamed Crassothonna cacalioides. This has unfortunately created quite a bit of confusion because many people assume (understandably but wrongly) that this is the new name for Othonna cacalioides.

In short: Crassothonna cacalioides is what used to be called Othonna carnosa and Othonna cacalioides is still Othonna cacalioides.

Antimima (Ruschia) biformis

The conspicuously dotted leaves are typical of this species, which is one of the smallest in the genus.

Over time the plants form low cushions up to 2.5 cm tall and 18 cm in diameter.
The leaves are of two types:
one pair forms a body of 2-5 mm long with 2 very short lobes, greyish-green with a purple hue. During the hot and dry resting period, this pair dries out and forms a dry sheath-like cover which protects the consecutive pair.
In this second pair, the leaves are almost free, 2-7 mm long and 2-3 mm wide and thick, triangular in cross-section, and pointed.
This phenomenon of two different types of leaf-growth is called heterophylly and it may be interesting to note that it is reflected in the name of this species (bi=two; forma=form, shape).
The plants have solitary purplish flowers (with or without a darker mid-stripe) on stalks 3-4 mm long.

According to the literature, they occur in shaly sandstone crevices in the Swellendam area. The first picture below was made about 20 km NW. of Montagu, the others about 15 km E. of Montagu. The last two ones show plants in late January (during the resting period), the other ones were taken in early September (during the growing season).

Mesembryanthemum longistylum

Depending on the availability of water, these plants are either annuals or biennials.
They are sprawling or erect (to 40 cm tall), with a slightly woody base. Their leaves usually have inconspicuous bladder cells and are 2-3.5 cm long and 0.2-1 cm wide, linear to narrowly oblong and more or less cylindrical to flattened, slightly channelled and green (often with a red tinge).
The flowers are up to 2.5 cm in diameter and have white petals, often with pink tips and/or a yellowish base; they appear mainly in Sept.-Nov.

Although it is locally abundant and widespread mainly in the Western Cape, the species is reported from places as far away as Springbok and Port Elizabeth. It is usually found on disturbed clay or loam and along roadsides.

Cephalophyllum framesii

Like many other Cephalophyllums, this species can quickly spread as a pioneer on disturbed or alluvial soil. This ability, combined with flowers in a wide variety of colours, makes them good ground cover subjects for gardens in a suitable climate.

The plants have dark green leaves, club-shaped, and 3-7 cm long.
In June-August, they produce flowers to 4 cm in diameter, with cream-coloured, yellow, pink or magenta petals and yellow or magenta stamens.
They occur in Namaqualand (Riethuis to Vredendal) and the northern Tanqua Karoo.

Othonna intermedia

Of the about 100 species of Othonna, roughly a third qualify as succulents. Nine of these are deciduous geophytes (leafless during the resting period) and O. intermedia is a member of this group.

A resinous underground tuber produces a number of wedge-shaped, fleshy leaves up to 7 x 4 cm in size and green to blue-green or greyish in colour.
The yellow flower heads are 0.8-1 cm in diameter and appear between May and September (mostly in June and July).
Endemic to the Knersvlakte, where it occurs in quartz patches.

Monilaria moniliformis

Common names: ertjievygie, pea mesemb, bobbejaanvingers.

The most distinct features of the genus Monilaria are the constricted stems and the persistent leaf bases which look like a string of beads (Latin monilaria = a collection of strings of pearls)
Each growing season, the plants form a short and a long leaf pair: the first pair is largely fused so that it looks like a flattish, rounded body; the second pair emerges through the tip of this body and consists of elongated leaves which are cylindrical or almost triangular in cross-section and only fused at their bases.

M. moniliformis -the most well-known species of the genus- is a shrublet to 15 cm high, with barrel-shaped internodes which make it relatively easy to recognize the plants.
In July-August the flowers appear; they are to 4 cm across and have relatively long stalks (to 5 cm) and usually white petals ( sometimes tinged yellow); the filaments are white, orange, or purple.
The species occurs in the Vredendal-Vanrhynsdorp-Klawer area of southern Namaqualand), where it grows fully exposed, mostly on clay and quartz patches. This is the southernmost part of the distribution area of the genus.

Jordaaniella (Cephalophyllum) spongiosa (volstruisvygie, olifantsvy)

In “NAMAQUALAND, a succulent desert” by Cowling and Pierce, this species is described as “perhaps Namaqualand’s showiest vygie” and that is saying a good deal. As it is also easy to grow, it makes a great garden subject in a suitable climate. It is widespread and common in its natural habitat, the sandy soil of Namaqualand’s coastal plain.

The plants are either creeping and rooting from the nodes, or forming a shrub up to 35 cm high, especially when there are other shrubs around to support them.
The branches are up to 1 cm across and the somewhat finger-shaped leaves may be up to 11 cm long.
In August – October, the plants produce spectacular flowers up to 10 cm across, pink to orange to red with a yellow to orange base. They are visited by several species of insects (see last picture) and have unusually high numbers of petals (230-270) and stamens (700-1050). The same goes for the number of compartments in the fruit (18-28).