Cotyledon orbiculata var. oblonga

Yet another face to put to the name Cotyledon orbiculata. This plant is thought to be C. orbiculata var. oblonga. The leaves are whiter than green. Some might see some blue in them as well. The leaf margins are faintly red and their shapes gracefully rounded, while some have distinct pointed tips, breaking the rounding. The leaves are thinner and larger than sometimes seen, growing here among rocks in montane surroundings. The photo was taken in April.

The flowers are pale pink and orange, the early buds similar in colour to the leaves. By the time the flower opens, the perianth is quite long, more than in some of the other varieties of this fervently diversifying species. There may be a bulge in the middle part of the corolla tube. The curved pink pedicels in the flower clusters are gracefully arched above the flowers, allowing them to nod, or rather, to droop.

The variety distribution is in the east of the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga.

The habitat is quite diverse, the plants growing exposed in full sunlight. The habitat population of the variety is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century.

There is also a narrow, finger-like leaved form of this plant from the Eastern Cape, called C. orbiculata var. oblonga "Flavida" or grey sticks. Some think that this fingery form may be a garden hybrid (Smith, et al, 2017; iNaturalist; iSpot; www.smgrowers.com; http://redlist.sanbi.org).