Cotyledon barbeyi

Cotyledon barbeyi has variable leaves ranging from paddle-shaped yellow-green ones to erect, spindle-shaped or finger-like ones that may be yellow-green or blue-green in colour. The plants may reach 2 m in height and branch into spreading shrubs. The flowers are orange-red to pinkish red, pendulous and urn-shaped.

These plants grow naturally in Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West and KwaZulu-Natal, as well as in Swaziland and Mozambique.

The habitat is bushveld in shade, sandstone cliffs and rocky outcrops in low-lying areas. There are two varieties: var. barbeyi is not threatened in habitat early in the twenty first century, while var. soutpansbergensis is critically rare though not endangered due to a stable population in a very restricted range.

Succulent plants vary much in the way they store water. They may carry a water supply for tomorrow in their leaves (like the plant in picture), or in the stems, roots or a basal caudex, according to their nature as per evolutionary development. Like this plant, a succulent often becomes an attractive gardening option when water becomes scarce. Waterwise gardeners or xeriscapers pay less for water as their selection of garden plants requires less and may still flourish in the dry seasons.

South African succulents are almost invariably not cacti, as there is only one indigenous cactus species in the country, viz. Rhipsalis baccifera subsp. mauritiana, growing in sub-tropical KwaZulu-Natal and northwards into Tanzania (Smith, et al, 2017; Hardy and Fabian, 1992; http://redlist.sanbi.org).