Curio articulatus

Curio articulatus, commonly the candle plant or sausage daisy and in Afrikaans worsies (little sausages), is in the USA known as the hot dog cactus. The sprawling perennial that becomes about 15 cm tall used to be known scientifically as Senecio articulatus and before that Kleinia articulata.

However it may be named, it cannot be blamed for being prickly… no thorns, prickles, spines or even hairs occur upon the plant. Using some assistance from lichen covered rocks in the Little Karoo, this plant manages the pretence of being erect.

The species distribution is in the Western Cape from Montagu through the Little Karoo to Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape. 

The habitat is rocky fynbos and Karoo scrub slopes, often sheltered under bigger vegetation. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).