Kalanchoe bracteata

Another interesting species of Kalanchoe from Madagascar yet again. This is a species that closely resembles K. orygalis. K. orygalis has leaves covered by a layer of deep bronze hair or scales whereas K. bracteata has silvery white hair or scales instead. This is typical K. bracteata and it also has a naked cousin totally emerald green with out hairs or scales. This species is very drought, heat resistant and easy to propagate from leaves. It is a beautiful succulent, and will need to be re-started leaves or re-planted from cuttings otherwise it grows leggy when the older leaves shred.  Another species that's very similar but more sparsely hairly is K. hildebrantii.

Stapelianthus keraudreniae

Another species of Stapelianthus from Betioky district in south western Madagascar. This species is different from other Stapelianthus due to the raise annulus resembling some species of Huernia like H. zebrina. Also, the annulus appears to be viscid or sticky in the absence of dew.  During watering, I took care to avoid wetting the flowers. However, it is only strong enough to trap dirt as i did not see any dead ants or other insect stuck on it.  The flowers of Stapelianthus are quite diverse, tubular in S. decaryii , raise annulus in S. keraudreniae, recurved in S. insignis and open standard in S. hardyi, S. madagascariensis etc; more so than other genera of Stapeliaceae (Huernia, Stapelia).  I hope to find others like S. calcarophilus, S. madagascarensis.  Being a sub-tropical stapeliad, it adapts well under tropical conditions.

Stapelianthus pilosus

This is an immediately distinctive plant amongst the stapeliads - stem densely covered with white hairs. For those more familiar with huernia, it is like Huernia pillansii with denser and softer hairs. Originated from Madagascar, it has been in cultivation for a fair period of time. But it is not as commonly available as other S. African huernias.  It requires more warmth and a bit higher humidity.  It has a creeping habit due to its long soft stems.  Also because of longer stems and less offsetting habit, it is harder to take cuttings for propagation. Hopefully, i can keep and propagate it well under tropical conditions.

Kalanchoe grandidieri

This is one of the arborescent kalanchoe from the scrub desert of south western Madagascar.  So far, it has been occasionally offered for sale by specialist C&S nurseries in Europe and US. It would quickly sold out and disappear from the catalogue the following year. I find this plant very slow growing and difficult to propagate. The leaf refuses to detached cleanly from the stem, even with great care. It is not easy to root the damage leaf.  These are i guess the reasons why it remains rare in cultivation.  With leaves up to 5" long, it resembles non-branching a scale-up version of the commonly sold jade plant Crassula ovata. It is amenable to tropical lowland climate and i had kept it for more than 5 years.

Plectranthus sp

Plectranthus is one genus that is not well presented in C&S collection. The best known species is P. ernestii a caudiciform from coast Natal province of South Africa. Other species in this genus can hardly be termed succulent in the classical sense, but many species are certainly well adapted to take xeric conditions. 

This species 10249 collected by Lavranos & Horwood from Galgallo, Somalia fits the bill of great adaptability between two extremes of dry and wet. My plant above is "tortured" by underwatering because i enjoy its soft and flaccid look.  A cutting given to a friend who has it grown under a sprinkler once a day becomes a monster overnight. It has outgrown its parental clone by 4 times in both width and height, carring its leaves erect and extended. In short, it has transformed into garden coleus!     

Echidnopsis bihendulensis

This is a very robust and easy stapeliad for the equatorial conditions.  It does not melt with days with night temperatures above 30°C. Not surprising as it is from Somalia. Purchased it from Ernest Specks as ES14143 2 years back.  It is very free flowering, need little attention and propagates easily too.

Other than American invasion of Somalia, Somali pirates threatening shipping in Red Sea area and other bad press... Somalia is actually a place very rich and diverse in succulents and xeric vegetation.  Ecologically dry for eons, it is an isolated succulent desert sharing common flora with Northern Africa and Canary Islands and across to the Arabian Peninsular. Other well known stapeliads - Pseudolithos, Pseudopectinaria, Whitesloanea, Edithcolea also comes that area. 

Nowadays, i try as much as possible grow succulents from equatorial africa where few succulents are to be found and the lowlands of sub-tropical africa mainly Somalia, Madasgacar. Other parts of 'tropical' africa is not really true, because they are way up above sea level most of East Africa is highland and plains above 1000 m.

Aeonium goochiae

Again like the former plant... that came through post in a bad way, this came with the rosette totally flatten to 1 plane. I was expecting all the leaves to blacken and fall off after planting.  Surprise, surprise.  It survives and it actually growing.  Its restricted range between 100-700m at La Palma, Canary Islands may explain its heat tolerance.  

Aeonium haworthii

It is probably not the most common Aeonium around. Have been trying to find adaptable crassulaceae species for the tropics. A kind gentlemen has picked a selection of crassulaceae from the lower altitude of Canary Islands. This is one of the surviving crassulaceae from Canary Islands. Actually, the survival rate is better than my expectation. A small padded packet came to me from England in the depth of February winter. It reached me semi-flatten as if a steam roller just went over it.  As i was unpacking, there was also a sticky resinous small which i assumed was the scent of death (rot). These little things still managed to pull through to a permanently above 27°C ever warm environment. In the picture is a plant rooted from a broken off rosette with less that 1 mm of stem.  So far it survived the postal journey, the decapitation, my 1 week holiday to Taiwan and the rising humidity and heat of April. So i'm keeping my fingers crossed.. 

Caralluma moniliformis

This is one of the Somalian carallumas that Ernest Specks had stocked in his 2008 catalogue. I was pleasantly surprised that it flowered earlier in February during the dry and windy weather. Most of my carallumas (C. retrospeciens) give a terminal ball of flowers, and i was expecting the same for this species.  It gives a long thin stick of spaced terminal inflorescence similar to a well known Indian species C. stalagmifera.  The flowers are really very small, perhaps 1 cm across and extremely delicate.  Any insects that can work on its pollination is probably an order of magnitude smaller!  For size, i have a stray kalanchoe longiflora (right) for comparison below:

Dorstenia horwoodii

Another one of the oldies in my collection. Had it probably almost close to 10 years.  I got it as Dorstenia horwoodii from AridLand East before Mike Massara went on to set up his own Out of Africa Plants nursery.  Many "summers" and "winters" pass with a new flush of silvery green leaves turning to autumnal golden before they shed.  The plant is monoecious; the stigma and stamens offset but a short period to avoid selfing.  Interestingly when the plant was younger, there numerous seed set were none viable.  For the last few years, they become viable with many true to parent-form seedlings despite having only 1 specimen or clone.

This species was collect by Frank Horwood in Somalia and hence the species name.  There are opinions now that it should be considered to one variation of the D. foetida species complex.  As a gardener and hobbyist, it is probably easier to remember a short name vs  D. foetida (syn D. horwoodii.. ).  Under tropical conditions subjected to similar cultivation treatment D. foetida grows as an annual or bi-annual while D. horwoodii remains strongly perennial.

Huernia hystrix

If my memory serve me well, this is one of the few succulents that i have from day 1. It is a plant have been around in Singapore for a very long time and yet rarely offered in nurseries.  Over the years, i have collected a couple of varieties, mainly Huernia hystrix v. hystrix but i like my original clone H. hystrix v. parvula best. Variety parvula is smaller compared to the type species in all its parts. And under my regime, it is also more free flowering compared to the various hystrix. For scale, the flower above is 3 cm across with similarly sized trailing stems. The type variety is widely distributed from south eastern Zimbabwee, through Mozambique to Transvaal, Swaziland and Natal provinces in South Africa, while parvula variety is restricted to few localities in Oribi Flats, Natal. It is one of the most resilient huernia in my collection, surviving neglect, under attrack by spider mites and weevils for longest period. They looked well enough that i overlooked those damned pests. 

Carallum crenulata

Have been awaiting buds to open for sometime.  There were numerous abortions in the last few months. Perhaps it is too windy or too warm.  At last on the 6th day of Chinese New Year, the flowers open:
My guess is Caralluma crenulata. It turns out to be correct. The stems are 4-angled and rather thin just 5-6 mm with small residual leaves. Unlike other stapeliads, it has a rather irregular habitat branching at will like a straggly Edithcolea grandis. So far it does not appear to form underground stolons/stems, noting the lack of new stem growth emerging from underground. A friend gave me a small plant that was purchased from the renown Chatuchak Market in Bangkok, Thailand. C. crenulata type is recorded from Sagaing in the dry savannah interior of Myanmar. I reckon it would be highly probable that some plant finds its way to the neighbouring Thailand which has a very developed horticultural industry.  

Kalanchoe brachyloba

Have been trying to nail down the identity of this member of crassulaceae for a while. My best guess is kalanchoe brachyloba; a species widespread across central and southern Africa.  The subrosulate arrangement of very fleshy succulent leaves and having a tuberous rootsock matches the description well. This was purchased from the famous Chatuchak market in Bangkok back in 2006. It was one of the cheaper miscellaneous offering in small pots where one normally associate with easy to propagate and common stuff. Frankly, it is definitely an easy non-demanding plant that thrive on neglect but it is not fast growing. Under ever warm tropical condition without significant change in summer/winter day lenght, i am not counting on it to flower and confirm its identity.  

Sedum booleanum

When i first saw this plant at the rooftop C&S nursery/shop at Seibu Ikebukuro, Tokyo, i told myself it must be a crassula sp. With a compact crassula-like plant, the odds of it surviving tropical Singapore is very low.  The general rule of thumb - anything white, tight and compact is doomed from the start. Still it is too charming and must be tried and tested. Well, it turned out to be a sedum from subtropical Mexico which is a good start versus crassula sp from temperate S. Africa.  The Japanese harakana script had it phonetically translated as S. "boulesnum" which is very close to the published latin name of S. booleanum. This species is described from Nuevo Leon, Mexico and it occurs in gypsum outcrops.  It is unique and special being very similar to habit of Villadia. (Go to this wonderful website and search for S. booleanum in the botanical database).

After growing for 3 mths, it has retained its compact form and colour; something to cheer about for a sedum occuring at 1340 m a.s.l!

Glottiphyllum depressum

It is a surprise to me that this tongue-mesemb can grow and flower in Singapore. My first encounter was in a Taiwan nursery that had them grown in a flat in a gravelly mix. It was growing in full sun and also expose to monsoon rains. But apparently enjoying the conditions with numerous flowers. The second encounter was at Shanghai botanical gardens the following year.

G. depressum as species name suggests lies flat or prostate.   The soft heavy leaves can be easily damaged or bruised, making them unsightly. In term of size, this is a giant relative to lithops.  The leaves are about 3" long, flowers 1.2" across.  All parts are bigger, the seed pods and even the seeds are bigger.  I even managed to germinate few old seeds traps in a rotting seed capsule and nurse a seedling to about 2 cm with secondary leaves. 

Will probably try to test grow different species from genus here next year. There are afterall a few species stretching from Little Karoo east into the summer rainfall area of Eastern Cape, South Africa.

Aloe hemmingii

Well, i consider this one of the most beautiful Aloe.  It is a miniature, comfortably growing in a 3.5" pot. Like most good things in life, it is a relatively slow grower and does not give offsets or "pups" readily. This species is native to Somalia, around the hilly terrain around Hargeisa, at Horn of Africa. It closely resembles A. jucunda, a species that is more frequently offered probably because it grows faster and offsets easily.  Unlike A. jucunda which gets sunburn or melt down on exposure to strong direct sun, A. hemmingii looks best and bronzes ifself in full sun. 

Cultivation is relatively easy. Very well draining mix and general neglect!  

Bergeranthus multiceps

Permanently warm temperatures above 25°C is almost certain death for keeping mesembs. Surprise, surprise, one compact mat forming mesemb, purchased from the famous Chatuchak Market in Bangkok, Thailand, just flowered for me. I've seen the bud for a couple of days and am ready to shoot under gentle morning light. But the flower remains close and a few petals extending out not unlike a clam that has trapped a few petals! When i returned from work one early evening around 5 pm the flower is opened. The timing is unusual as most mesemb open their flowers in the morning. There are numerous yellow flowering mesembs in a family with 135 genera and about 1900 species.. it would be impossible to land on a identification. 

Well, there are 2 important clues: 

(1) it must come from the lowlands, summer rainfall area; being successful here on the equator 

(2) flower opens in the evening

Refering to my handy copy of Mesembs of the World by Gideon Smith, Briza Publisher (1998).  Bergeranthus flowers only in late afternoon and close before midnight and is restricted exclusively to the eastern cape near the coast between Port Elizabeth in the west and up to East London and Queenstown. Doing some websearch, the leaf shape and plant habit best matches B. multiceps.

Testing out new Echeverias & allies

This is a tray of newly potted cuttings of Echeveria, Graptopetalum, Pachyphytum, Sedum, xCremnopetalum, xGraptoveria,, xSedeveria sp  I have always like rosetted species from the crassulaceae family.  Have been doing some research and compile a list of desirable low altitude species between subtropical belt ie. between the tropic of cancer and capricorn.  I come up with a list of mainly Mexican species which deserved to be tested here under tropical conditions.  I challenge a sharp-eye expert to spot 2 pots of non-crassulaceae!

xGraptosedum 'Francesco Baldi'

This is amongst the 'survivors'.  With suggestions from crassulaceae discussion group, i think it is probably xGraptosedum 'Francesco Baldi'. This is a cross between Graptopetalum paraguayense and Sedum pachyphyllum. It is unlikely that i can ever get confirmation from its flowers; the heat tolerant parent G. paraguayense never flowers here in Singapore.  The leaf shape and taller growth comes from S. pachyphyllum. G. paraguayense contributes to the broader leaves and pinkish coloration.  This is widely offered for sale without label and occasionally can be labelled 'Pink Beauty'.

xGraptosedum 'Bronze'

This brightly colorful and beautiful succulent was purchased from Home Depot, Fairfax, VA.  It was amongst a nice range of cacti and succulents supplied by Altman Plants.  After 7 months of acclimatizing in Singapore, 1 out of 4 of my selection perished.  This is one of the survivors. I had no idea what it is. My initial guesses are Sedum, xGraptoveria and xPachyveria.  Fortunately, there are many amateur experts in the succulent hobbyist discussion groups where i can approach to get identification help.  In this case, i posted photographs to this the crassulaceae discussion at yahoogroups.  General consensus has it identified as xGraptosedum 'Bronze' which is an intergeneric cross of Graptopetalum paraguayense and Sedum stahlii.  G. paraguayense from lowland Veracruz, Mexico passes on heat tolerance genetics while S. stahlii deepens or darkens the coloration.