Some Background.

The trip was organized by the Field Trips Committee of the Cactus and Succulent Society of America, in collaboration with Alex Fick, president of the Succulent Society of South Africa and co-owner of Gariep Travel which specializes in trips to succulent plant habitats in southern Africa. Logistical support was provided by Richtersveld Challenge, an adventure-tourism company in South Africa. Our botanical guide was Dr. Graham Williamson, who has long been a recognized authority on the plants of southern Africa (especially succulents and orchids). There were 12 CSSA members participating and 7 support staff (guides, drivers, caterers, etc.) We traveled in a caravan of six 4-wheel drive vehicles over 6000 km, mostly on dirt roads. Most times we camped, sometimes in established campsites, other times wherever we happened to find ourselves at the end of the day. Once every 3-4 nights we stayed in a hotel or lodge to wash off the road dust. Our trip was from May 13 to June 4. This was fall in southern Africa. Most of the time was spent in a summer rainfall region, and the area had been blessed with abundant summer rains. Most of the vegetation was in good condition, and a lot of the leafy succulents still bore leaves and fruit, aiding in plant identification; we saw relatively few flowers. In the Richtersveld and south we were in a winter rainfall area and the rains were just beginning. In some areas the plants were in excellent condition; in other areas they were suffering from long-term drought. During the trip we generally had pleasant sunny days, and warm (in the north) to cool nights; we had light rain only one day. Generally, plant size is greater in the north, but species diversity is greater in the south. In my narration I will primarily mention only the Fat Plants that are of interest to this group. In addition, we saw many types of Aloes, stapeliads, mesembs, crassulas, and various other types of succulents. Because there is interest amongst this group in succulent bonsai, I will include some "marginally fat" plants that can be considered for their bonsai potential.

I think relatively few people are familiar with Namibia, so let me say a few words about the country. For many years Namibia was a territory of South Africa known as South West Africa. It gained its independence very recently, in 1990. Like South Africa, there is a fairly significant European influence, especially Dutch and British. English is an official language and is spoken commonly (though not universally).

Namibia is bordered on the north by the Kunene River, across which is Angola. The Atlantic Ocean forms the entire western boundary of the country, an 800 mile long coastline. In the south, the Orange River forms the boundary with South Africa; across the river lies the Richtersveld. Botswana lies to the east. Much of Namibia is desert (Namib Desert in the west, Kalahari Desert in the east) or semi-desert, hence the abundance of succulent plants. But the semi-desert is a mixture of grasslands and dry tropical forests such as those found elsewhere in the world. The dry forests in the north are composed of such groups as baobabs, corkwoods (commiphoras), acacias, and many other succulent, semi-succulent, and non-succulent xerophytic trees and shrubs. Because of desert conditions, Namibia has limited agriculture, with only about 1% of the land considered arable. The country has considerable mineral wealth, and mining occurs here and there throughout the country. Mines yield precious and semi-precious stones (diamonds, etc), collectors minerals (some found nowhere else in the world), and other minerals such as gold, silver, copper, zinc, tin, lead, and uranium. The geology and mineralogy are interesting and often produce spectacular scenery.

Namibia is a relatively large country, slightly smaller in area than France and Germany combined, or about the combined area of the states of Texas and Louisiana. However, it is one of the least populated nations in the world, with an entire national population of only about 1.8 million (roughly the size of cities such as St. Louis, San Diego, Johannesburg, or Stockholm). The largest city is the capital of Windhoek. The highest concentration of people live in an area of the northeast; this is the highest (but not high!) rainfall area of the country and therefore supports some limited and marginal agriculture. Namibia has a relatively good infrastructure. The roads are generally good, though less than 10% are paved. The further away from important or populated areas, the lower the road quality, down to tracks where 4-wheel drive (and lots of time) are essential. There is a relatively good network of private campgrounds, guesthouses, and lodges throughout much of the country. The wildlife is plentiful and not restricted to game parks - we saw elephant, giraffe, various types of antelope, ostrich, and other wildlife here and there throughout the trip. Namibia is said to be the first country to emphasize environmental conservation in its constitution, and about 14% of its land is conserved in national parks. The scenery throughout much of the country is spectacular, and the people are generally friendly. I first traveled there 4 years ago, and I feared that time had sweetened my memories beyond reality; but, if anything, I was more impressed on this, my second trip.

Dan Mahr - 2002

Windhoek to the Kunene River

We departed the capital of Windhoek early in the morning of May 14, en route north to Etosha National Park. This was to be a day of driving, with relatively few stops. We needed to cover about 450 km; fortunately we were to be on a paved road the entire route. On my last trip we had passed through a small town that used Cyphostemma currori as landscape trees lining the main street in town. We were on a different route this time, but in some communities we saw that the use of native succulents for landscaping was a common practice and in the town of Otjiwarongo there was a planting of nice Cyphostemma currori outside of a residential complex.

Fortunately, the landscape was seemingly uninteresting most of the route north; by this time the group would have mutinied had there been obvious succulents in abundance. In late afternoon we finally arrived at our campsite just south of the park boundary. We were staying on a private farm which had developed a small area with camping facilities. We set up camp and started to explore the immediate vicinity while the staff began dinner preparations; however, we were told not to venture too far, as a leopard had recently taken up residence in the area. But the campground area was surrounded by native trees, giving us our first opportunity to view commiphoras. Commiphoras are commonly called corkwoods because of their very soft wood. They are closely related to the Burseras of Mexico and Central America, and most species are semi-succulent or succulent trees or shrubs with thickened trunks and stems. At our campsite we had three species. C. glandulosa is a common species that we would encounter frequently through the trip. Both young and mature trees were present at our campsite. The short stems grow as spines (as demonstrated by Graham Williamson) and the attractive green bark flakes and peels in golden papery pieces. The trunk and stems are somewhat swollen. C. mollis is another thickened species; the flaking bark is brown to gray in coloration and the stems are spineless. C. glaucescens has bluish green leaves and a golden, flaking bark that often reveals a green underlayer. It sometimes has a single upright trunk and, in other locations, is a large multi-stemmed shrub.

The following morning we entered Etosha National Park. Etosha is one of the best wildlife parks in southern Africa, and the day was planned primarily to view animals, such as giraffe, zebra, and elephant, which were abundant. There are limited places within the park where you can exit your vehicles; this restriction is to protect both the animals and the tourists from each other. Therefore, although there are many succulents in Etosha, most were not easily viewed. The exception is the famous "Spokieswoud" or Haunted Forest or Ghost Forest. Generally Moringa ovalifolia grows in rocky or hilly areas, but here there are about 900 plants growing in a relatively small flat, sandy area. The trees are browsed by elephants and other wildlife and so they are heavily pruned and assume unearthly shapes (hence, ghost forest). Because of the moisture content of the trees, the elephants sometimes knock them down to get at the succulent roots when water is scarce. There was no evidence of young plants at this location, except that a fenced exclosure had been established to keep the animals out. Within the exclosure there was some regeneration. At another location in the park is a watering hole frequented by elephants and other wildlife. Moringas grow here as well, but on the rocky hillside which is inaccessible to the elephants. These plants had more typical growth, and were in leaf and fruit. There were numerous young trees here.

The next two nights we stayed at a very nice lodge outside of the east edge of the park. The following day most of the group took a plant expedition towards Grootfontein southeast of the park. We saw our first Cyphostemma in habitat and numerous large epigeal (but totally dormant) bulbs of Boophane disticha. Another attractive Commiphora species was seen, C. tenuipetiolata, which has whitish peeling bark that reveals a blue-green layer beneath.

The following day we headed northeast toward the town of Ruacana, and the impressive Ruacana Falls on the Kunene River, which forms the border between Namibia and Angola to the north. The area traversed today receives a bit more rainfall than the rest of Namibia, sufficient to support some agriculture; therefore this region is the most densely populated in the entire country. Much of the area is grazed or cultivated for crops, so there was little "natural" vegetation to be seen. However, the area has abundant baobabs, Adansonia digitata, usually growing in or near towns or villages, or surrounded by cultivated fields. A couple of our staff had served in the South African army during its war with Angola and its Cuban "advisors", and had been stationed at a military base in the town of Ombalantu. On the base and immediately adjacent to the mess hall and bar is a magnificent, huge baobab tree. The interior was somewhat hollow and served as a church.

We continued on to Ruacana Falls where we saw additional baobabs as well as a euphorbia and Sansevieria pearsonii. We then paralleled the Kunene for several kilometers through beautiful countryside, seeing some interesting plants en route, such as Pachypodium lealii. But it was getting late in the day and we had to press on until we found a suitable campsite on the edge of the river. We were warned not to go swimming in the Kunene - the effects of schistosomiasis occur slowly, but the effects of crocodile predation are much more rapid; both are painful and can be fatal. This was our first camping experience totally in the wild. But we had all the comforts of home, including a kitchen and comfortable dining area and the world's best toilet facilities. The view from the women's toilet was the beautiful Kunene River, but the view from the men's was a hillside covered with Pachypodium lealii (trust me - they're there!).

The following morning we hiked up one of the adjacent hills. Along the route we were entertained by a troop of vervet monkeys in the trees (thanks to Susan for pic). Again, we saw several types of commiphoras, including a new one for us, C. multijuga which has non-peeling purplish bark, and beautiful, weeping (pendant) compound leaves this is another species common throughout northern Namibia. There were also fine specimens of C. tenuipetiolata with exceptional bark characteristics. There were tremendous tall plants of Pachypodium here, and the view from the top of the hill was spectacular. We left this area by mid morning, and continued west along the Kunene, but this will be in the next installment.

Ruacana Falls to Epupa Falls

Sometimes things just don't go as planned…. While putting the itinerary together, one of the potentially more exciting legs of the trip was to follow the Kunene River west from Ruacana Falls about 40 km to Swartbooisdrif, and then continue on along the river another 90 km to Epupa Falls. There is a small community at Swartbooisdrif as well as a lodge. Beyond that, there's not much. However, years ago the South African army had built a "road" that followed the river, and, on some modern maps that road still exists with an official national route number (3700). The area is truly "off the beaten track" and therefore very poorly known botanically. However, along that route occurs one of the very localized succulent (and desirable!) shrubby commiphoras, C. oblanceolata, as well as possibly other little-known plants. One modern guidebook calls the road west of Swartbooisdrif "atrocious." But we had two days, and the distances were rather short, and we had 4-wheel drive, so we had decided to include this as part of the great adventure. However, while staying near Etosha we were advised that the road between Swartbooisdrif and Epupa Falls simply didn't exist anymore, and that we would be foolish to even try. So, we were faced with our first change in itinerary. Therefore, we departed our campsite west of Ruacana Falls with a very lengthy day in front of us; we were attempting to get all the way to Epupa Falls, but along a longer, albeit better route. The first leg of the day's journey was still to Swartbooisdrif. And it was a beautiful drive along the river. We saw a couple species of euphorbias, aloes, sansevierias, and lots of other interesting plants. Because of the day's lengthy drive, we were allowed very few stops; but, with 6 vehicles, sometimes short stops were allowed at the discretion of the individual drivers. Along the way we began to see beautiful plants of Adenium boehmianum, many of which were in full bloom. We were to continue to see these over the next few days, and the flowers were always with pale pink to almost-white petals with a contrasting deep purple throat. Adenium boehmianum is the only species of the genus in western Africa, and occurs both in northern Namibia and southern Angola. It tends to have dark, rather slender (but definitely succulent) stems. Most plants would be considered shrubs, blooming when only 1-2 ft tall, but some were quite larger, forming small trees, which were always spectacular with their canopies of flowers. Another attraction at Swartbooisdrif was a good-sized colony of Aloe littoralis in full bloom.

After lunch at Swartbooisdrif, we departed southwest, on the first leg of our detour to Epupa Falls. We traveled through hill country and plateaus, mostly with dry deciduous forest composed of acacia, mopane, commiphoras, and other species. It was only about 30 km along a good dirt road to Epembe, where we turned northwest on the road that would take us through the village of Okanguati and, ultimately to Epupa Falls, a total distance of about 100 km over a moderately good dirt road. Past Okanguati the scenery got more interesting, as did the plants. We passed many baobabs of various ages, Fockea multiflora, euphorbias, various types of commiphoras, some aloes, and huge, beautiful plants of Hoodia parviflora (to 5 ft tall!). We could only drool over all the plants as the day was getting late and we had little time to stop. But we would return.

Ultimately we arrived at Epupa Falls near dusk. The local Himba people have a very small village here and operate the campground facility, which has primitive showers and toilets. The campground is within spitting distance of the river, and literally only a few hundred feet upstream from the falls, which provided a continuous roar and "white noise" to drown out the normal cacophony of snores that normally emanated from our tents. The river here is lined with scenic blue-fronded makalani palms (Hyphaene petersiana) which produce "vegetable ivory" nuts that are carved by the native people into animals and local scenes. Beautiful, multicolored rosy-faced love birds (parrot family) nest by the hundreds in these trees. The waterfalls constitute one of the most dramatic landscapes in southern Africa, with one main channel but nearly a kilometer of smaller falls, which are lined with baobab trees. Camp was set up as dark was descending, and dinner was late this night.

The following morning we were driven a few km eastward on the "road" toward Swartbooisdrif and dropped off so that we could hike and botanize our way back to camp. The area was open mixed grassland and dry forest, with a fair abundance of plants of interest, including a couple species of euphorbias, Cissus quadrangularis, and large plants of Hoodia parviflora. Commiphoras were abundant here, with 3 or 4 species all growing together. We were beginning to recognize the white-barked C. tenuipetiolata. This species has two bark forms, the peeling form was illustrated in the last installment, and here we saw the form where the white bark flakes off in thick circular disks, revealing the colorful under layer of pinks, greens, and blues.

During my 1998 trip here I encountered a very common and beautiful commiphora but which I could not identify. The bark is bronze colored but peels horizontally in large silvery paper strips. The form of the plant is incredibly diverse, ranging from a single-trunked tree 4 m tall or more, to a multi-stemmed shrub only 1-2 m tall, with everything in between. This time there was some foliage on the plant, and I was able to find one seed. It is apparent from leaf and seed characteristics that this is either related to, or a form of C. virgata, but quite different from typical virgata (to be shown in a future installment).

One of the group found a small Cyphostemma uter here. Also in the picture can be seen Euphorbia leistneri, which is a localized species with stems somewhat reminiscent of a monadenium. As we got closer to camp we encountered a massive stump of a Cyphostemma. I had seen this same plant but leafless on my previous trip but couldn't identify it. Now it became apparent that it was a plant of C. uter, which had obviously been hacked upon rather severely over the years so that it no longer had the spreading form of a typical C. uter. Also in this area were many plants of Adenium boehmianum (note part of the Himba village in the background of this picture).

In the afternoon of the same day we drove south, backtracking along the route by which we arrived the previous day. Our intent was to get back to the colonies of large Hoodia parviflora. Along the way we again saw many commiphoras, including another arborescent form with thickened trunk, this time C. anacardifolia. This species has simple leaves, and the largest of all the Namibian species, up to 20 cm long, making it easy to identify. As with some other species, the vegetative characteristics can be variable. These trees south of Epupa had marvelously contorted trunks and a rather horizontal branching pattern. And the bark here was bronze colored and flaking rather than the typical condition of peeling in rather large papery pieces. We also saw more adeniums en route, again, many of which were in bloom. Amongst these was a bit of a giant, with a pleasantly plump base that must only come in great age for this species. We also found a very decorative old plant of Sterculia africana. Sterculia is a large genus (family Sterculiaceae) and some of the species from xeric habitats have developed a bit of pachycaul tendency, S. africana being one of those. The bark of S. africana flakes off in pieces that leave a patchwork quilt of underlying colors that vary from tree to tree. With this old tree the colors were predominantly in the reds and oranges, which were accentuated by the late afternoon light.

From here it was a dash to get back to the falls, as we wished to photograph it in the late afternoon light from an overlooking hill. When we arrived our camp crew had already set up our wine glasses and chilled wine, as well as an assortment of olives, smoked oysters, cheese and crackers, and other such spartan field rations. Susan was able to get a great picture of Maddy toasting the event. But we couldn't help but be a bit sad thinking about the future of this incredible place. You see, the governments of Namibia and Angola have decided that the Epupa Falls area would be a perfect site for a hydroelectric plant. The requisite dam would flood the falls, and the baobabs, and the Himba village and its sacred sites, and the type locality of Euphorbia subsalsa subsp. fluvialis, and many other wonderful things.

Epupa Falls to "The Hill"

Namibia is home to substantial parts of two of the world's great deserts, the Namib and the Kalahari. The Namib Desert stretches in a relatively thin band along southern Africa's Atlantic Coast from northern South Africa to southern Angola; in other words, the entire west coast of Namibia is in the Namib Desert. Adjacent to the east of this slender stretch of desert lies the much larger Kalahari, which comprises most of Botswana and Namibia, and some of Angola and South Africa. Most of our journey was in the western part of the Kalahari Desert, with brief excursions into the Namib.

Historically, Namibia has been divided into a series of political regions based somewhat on native homelands. After Namibia received its independence in 1990, there was some realignment and renaming of these political regions, but the older names still persist in daily usage. From Ruacana west to the Atlantic Ocean, and south to the spectacular petroglyphs at Twyfelfontein, is the region often referred to as the Kaokoveld. The Kaokoveld previously was divided into two regions, Kaokoland in the north, extending south as far as Sesfontein, with Damaraland to the south; this entire area is now the political entity known as the Kunene Region. Its western edge includes the Skeleton Coast National Park which lies within the Namib Desert; the remainder is part of the Kalahari. The entire area is roughly 100,000 sq. km and large areas of it are virtually unpopulated. This is a beautiful region of diverse topography including hills, mountains, and flat plains, but essentially all is desert or semi-desert. It is home to many types of our favorite fat plants. Because of the plant richness of the Kaokoveld (and an abundance of pretty pictures), I will be dividing this stretch into four installments. The first will take us a day and a half south of Epupa. The second will be an exploration of a single hill. The third will deliver us to Sesfontein. And the fourth will be the journey between Sesfontein and Palmwag. National road C43 is the main north-south route through the northern region of the Kaokoveld, starting at Epupa Falls and continuing to Sesfontein; this was our route.

We departed Epupa Falls and, for awhile, were on a stretch of road that we had already seen three times previously. But there were always new places to stop and plants to see. I promised I wouldn't show pictures of too many "non-Fatties" but I'd be doing you a disservice if I didn't show a few. Along this entire stretch, and continuing south into the Richtersveld, is a complex of plants that are collectively known as Euphorbia virosa though Graham sees distinct differences, especially in reproductive characters. The plants south of Epupa were in full fruit. We continued through dry forest partly composed of various commiphoras, as well as acacias, baobabs, and other xeric trees and shrubs. Between the towns of Okanguati and Opuwo we began to see many nice plants of Sesamothamnus. S. guerichii and S. benguellensis both occur through this area, with the first species having the larger range. These two species are easily distinguished when in flower (guerichii has yellow flowers without a distinct nectar spur (picture taken on my previous trip) and benguellensis has white flowers with a long nectar spur), but when not in flower, as on this trip, the plants can be separated only by minor leaf differences. We probably saw both species, but we didn't positively identify which plants were which types. In some areas these trees attained heights of 25 ft (8 m) with massive and beautifully sculpted bases.

We camped in the wild, south of the major town of Opuwo. At our campsite there were many small plants of Commiphora pyracanthoides, some growing in little clumps, and I couldn't help wondering what Susan Amoy would do with some of these natural bonsai specimens. The following day we continued south, seeing more Sesamothamnus, as well as lots of plants of the common and widely distributed Aloe herreroensis, many of which were in bloom. This is a beautiful little species certainly worthy of pot cultivation, with solitary rosettes about 10 inches in diameter and quite attractive deep red flowers.

We stopped at a nice stand of baobabs and also got our first close-up views of Cyphostemma currori. This species is the largest of the genus; in some areas they take on tree-proportions to the extent of being climbable. These were medium-sized plants, maybe 6-8 ft tall, with beautiful pink bark. Under one of the baobabs was a nice-sized Cyphostemma, together looking like mother and child. Also at this spot I got a good lesson in the difficulties of Commiphora identification, namely, you can't rely on trunk and bark characteristics alone. The trees were going dormant, but fortunately golden leaves were still remaining. The first pictures are of tree, then leaves, and then bark of the large-leafed species C. anacardifolia, followed by pictures of tree, leaves, and bark of C. glandulosa. Note how similar the bark is of these two trees.

"Pulled Muscle Hill"

Part of the distinction between the Namib Desert and the Kalahari involves a series of mountains and hills that run roughly north to south. One of the things that distinguishes these two deserts is that the Namib gets significant coastal fogs off of the Atlantic Ocean, but the hills and mountains intercept this moisture, giving the Kalahari a different climate and therefore a different flora. But some of the more interesting vegetation resides in the hills and mountains, and the main road between Opuwo and Sesfontein goes through this region of scenic terrain. From the road, unless there are some baobabs or other large succulents, the hills all appear reasonably similar, covered with dry forest, shrubs and grasses, with seemingly little of interest to the succulentophile. But appearances can be deceiving.

As we continued south from the site where we saw C. currori, we made occasional stops when we saw interesting plants, such as this Fockea multiflora climbing a Commiphora anacardifolia. Also here were Cyphostemma juttae in leaf, as well as a few Boophane disticha bulbs.

Ultimately, we arrived at "Pulled Muscle Hill," one of our planned stops. This story starts during our trip of 1998. Generally, the hilly terrain of this area all looks rather similar, and not especially interesting botanically; few plants of interest can be seen from the road. Such is the case with "Pulled Muscle Hill". Especially in a year such as this, with good rains and high grass, you could drive right by on the slow dirt road without suspecting anything of interest. But when we were there at the end of the dry season in 1998, the grasses were very sparse, and it was fairly easy to spot a population of small but pleasantly plump plants of cyphostemma from the road. As was typical in '98 (as well as on the current trip) we had great distances to travel, so time at any given stop was short. But the '98 group gradually made its way up the hillside, finding lots of nice plump leafless cyphostemmas to photograph, as well as a small assortment of other things of interest, such as a giant old Fockea multiflora with two major stems going in opposite directions in order to entwine trees to provide support for its flowers and fruit. Although the cyphostemmas were photogenic, they were impossible to identify without leaves or fruit. The time to depart soon approached. I turned to head back to the vehicle and noticed a couple of small, slender-stemmed but succulent plants amongst the rocks. "What's this?" I asked, but there was no one nearby to hear the question. A quick look at the small plants suggested a leafy euphorbia that had lost its leaves in this, the dry season, leaving noticeable light colored leaf scars. I thought that Graham Williamson would be interested in my discovery, so I headed down the hill, to find him already seated behind the steering wheel of his truck. I described the plant to him and he seemed both puzzled and interested, but then he told me that he had twisted his leg scrambling over rocks, was in terrible pain, and was in no way able to walk back up the hill. My discovery was to go unassessed by the only expert on the trip! When I returned home from that 1998 trip I sent Graham copies of my photos of the plant, along with a suggested identification: Euphorbia transvaalensis, which is a thin-stemmed shrubby species that is recorded from northern Namibia and southern Angola, then eastward into South Africa. Graham responded that he thought it was different from E. transvaalensis.

Months later I received another message from Graham. He had been back to "Pulled Muscle Hill" (as he called it) to check on the Euphorbia. He found none, but the cyphostemmas were in leaf and he was able to confirm that it was (probably) C. juttae. Graham returned yet a third time to the same hill, again without finding any plants of the euphorbia. Therefore, as we stopped at the hill this year, I had little hope of seeing the euphorbia, but as we worked our way up the hillside we began to find small leafy shrubs. Indeed, the Euphorbia was all around us - literally hundreds of plants, some up to 18 inches tall, and many were bearing bright green fruits. As the rainy season was over, many of the plants were leafless, but some were still in leaf; unfortunately, none were in flower. E. transvaalensis grows from an underground tuber (I guess technically making it a Fat Plant, at least an honorary one), and we excavated one small plant which did indeed have such a tuber. Graham took careful notes and did sketches of the plants, and we took lots of photos. The plant is certainly close to E. transvaalensis, and Graham intends to return to Pulled Muscle Hill next April, when the plants should be in bloom. I twisted Susan's arm to take a picture of me next to a large plant - if you don't want to look at me or the twiggy euphorbia, note the Sterculia africana (left), commiphoras, and Fockea multiflora (center and right) in the background.

So, there were many other things to see here as well. The Sterculia africana gave us another aspect of the delightful complexity of bark colors of this species (compared to the old tree we saw near Epupa Falls). There were at least three species of Commiphora (sorry, no pictures this time!). Wonderful plants, large and small of Fockea multiflora were fairly common, using neighboring trees for support and demonstrating why they are one of the plants sometimes referred to as a "vegetable python." Also here was a kalanchoe, identified by Maddy as possibly K. brachyloba, and (warning - photo of a non-fat plant!) Sansevieria aethiopica. Also, to my knowledge, this was the only location where we saw an erythrina; E. decora is the only species present in this part of the world. Although looking not very succulent, the limbs are indeed soft and pliable, and one book that I read said that in some areas in grows no taller than 50 cm (1.5 ft), so it may have good bonsai potential. Does anyone grow this plant? Note the distinctive seedpods, one that is open still has a bright red seed inside.

Eventually we had to depart Pulled Muscle Hill, with the euphorbia question still unanswered. But at least we know that there is a very healthy population there, so perhaps in the future we will resolve the question of its identification.

Next installment: Pulled Muscle Hill to Sesfontein, including Sterculia quinqueloba and (Jerry, brace yourself) Cyphostemma uter.

Go to: | Fat-Plants Group