Cotyledon orbiculata var. orbiculata

The different forms of Cotyledon orbiculata, the plakkie, are at least partly associated with different geographic regions within the overall distribution of the species. This one used to be called C. orbiculata var. oophylla, associated with the Richtersveld. That variety has now been sunk into C. orbiculata var. orbiculata that sports a huge number of earlier scientific names.

C. orbiculata var. orbiculata is distributed in the Northern Cape, the Western Cape, the west of the Eastern Cape and Namibia.

The habitat is open scrubveld in arid and semi-arid conditions, often found in succulent Karoo, Nama Karoo and beach scrubveld. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Smith, et al, 2017; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).