5 Tylecodon ventricosus Seeds - Indigenous South African Endemic Perennial Succulent

Tylecodon ventricosus Seeds

Klipnenta, Nentabossie

Tylecodon is a genus of succulent plants in the Crassulaceae family. Until the late 1970s all these plants were included in the genus Cotyledon, but in 1978 Dr Helmut Tölken of the South Australian Herbarium split them off into a genus of their own. The new name: "Tylecodon" was chosen as an anagram of the earlier name Cotyledon. Tylecodons generally lose their leaves during summer. From mid-autumn to early winter the new leaves are borne in spiral arrangements at the branch tips. The Tylecodon genus is very varied, ranging from dwarf succulents such as Tylecodon reticulatus to Tylecodon paniculatus, which may exceed two metres in height. They all well suited to being raised in rockeries and in pots. When grown in small pots their height can be controlled and they make interesting looking natural bonsai. Tylecodon ventricosus, synonymously known as Cotyledon ventricosa, Cotyledon ventricosa var. alpina or Tylecodon jarmilae and commonly known as Klipnenta or Nentabossie is a South African endemic species found in the Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and Western Cape Provinces. 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.