Tylecodon wallichii

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Tylecodon wallichii
5 Tylecodon wallichii - Montagu RSA.jpg
Tylecodon wallichii in Montagu.
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Saxifragales
Family: Crassulaceae
Genus: Tylecodon
Species:
T. wallichii
Binomial name
Tylecodon wallichii
Synonyms [1]
  • Cotyledon wallichiiHarv.
  • Tylecodon papillaris subsp. wallichii(Harv.) G.D.Rowley

Tylecodon wallichii is a species of succulent plant in the genus Tylecodon belonging to the family Crassulaceae. [1] The species is named in honour of Nathaniel Wallich, early 19th century Danish plant hunter, botanist and physician.

Contents

Description

Detail of Tylecodon wallichii flowers. Anysberg Nature Reserve. Tylecodon wallichii Flowers.jpg
Detail of Tylecodon wallichii flowers. Anysberg Nature Reserve.
Tylecodon wallichii in winter. Richtersveld National Park Tylecodon wallichii Richtersveld.jpg
Tylecodon wallichii in winter. Richtersveld National Park

Tylecodon wallichii is a low sparsely branched shrublet reaching a height of about 50 cm (up to 1 m) with a single thick succulent stem up to 6 cm in diameter. Greyish branches are densely covered with residual leaf bases (phyllopodia) up to 1.5 cm long and crowded leaves on their tips. Leaves are yellowish to ash-green, hairless, ascending, slightly curved inward, tapering towards the apex, with a shallow groove along upper side, 6.5 — 9.5 cm (up to 15 cm) long. Plants blossom during summer, producing spreading to pendent clusters of dangling yellowish-green, urn-shaped flowers of 7-12 mm long with spreading to recurved lobes. [2] [3]

It hybridises with Tylecodon paniculatus . [4]

Distribution

Gravelly or sandy slopes of South Namibia and RCA from Namaqualand into the Great and Little Karoo. [1]

Toxicity

The plant contains bufadienolide-type cardiac glycoside cotyledoside which causes nenta poisoning ("krimpsiekte") in livestock. [5]

Subspecies

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Tylecodon wallichii (Harv.) Toelken". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens Kew . Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  2. ↑ Eggli, Urs (2003). Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants: Crassulaceae. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 364. ISBN   978-3-642-55874-0.
  3. ↑ F. Smith, Gideon; R Crouch, Neil; Figueiredo, Estrela (2017). Field Guide to Succulents of Southern Africa. Penguin Random House South Africa. p. 320. ISBN   9781775843672.
  4. ↑ Manning, John C.. (2013). Field guide to wild flowers of South Africa. Cape Town: Random House Struik. p. 236. ISBN   9781920544874.
  5. ↑ Kellerman, T. S.; Coetzer, J. A. W.; Naudé, T. W.; Botha, C. J. (2005). Plant poisonings and mycotoxicoses of livestock in southern Africa (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 116–146. ISBN   978-0195761344.
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