Pachycarpus campanulatus var. sutherlandii

    Pachycarpus campanulatus var. sutherlandii
    Author: Ivan Lätti
    Photographer: Judd Kirkel Welwitch

    Pachycarpus campanulatus var. sutherlandii, sometimes called the fairy bell pachycarpus, is an erect, slender-stemmed perennial that grows to 60 cm. The yellow-green stems are faintly hairy. The long, narrow leaves are almost linear, but do taper to narrowly acute tips. They grow to lengths of about 12 cm and are only 4 mm wide. The leaves are opposite on very short petioles. The whitish leaf midribs are conspicuous, almost as wide as the strip of green leaf blade on either side of it.

    The plant exudes a milky sap when damaged. It resprouts from the sturdy, woody rootstock after fire.

    The distribution is inland, in summer rainfall grassland from the Eastern Cape to Limpopo and as far west as northern Gauteng. It also grows in Lesotho and Swaziland. This plant was photographed in January in the southern Drakensberg (iSpot).

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