Kleinia stapeliiformis

Kleinia stapeliiformis, previously Senecio stapeliiformis is an erect shrublet, a stem succulent bearing tiny vestigial leaves, hardly noticed or hardly noticed as leaves.

The Kleinia genus is a member of the Asteraceae or daisy family. Like succulents generally, the species is drought tolerant, unlike many of the admired South African daisy-bearing flowering plants that are soft herbs or woody shrubs.

In this photo the colour change associated with imminent opening of the flower bud bracts can be seen. There is also a dramatic stem constriction representing the rest period between two growing seasons, separating two very differently coloured stem parts.

The vestigial leaves are more prominent on the new growth of the upper, youthful stem part, having dropped off from the older stem parts. The thick, erect stems are more blue-green when young, cylindrical, longitudinally ridged and striped.

The species distribution of K. stapeliiformis, a South African endemic, is mainly in the south of Limpopo and the north of Gauteng and Mpumalanga.

The habitat is bushveld and grassland in dry, summer rainfall terrain. The species is not considered threatened in habitat early in the twenty first century.

This plant is one of the 17 species that were moved from the Senecio genus to Kleinia in the 1980s (Hardy and Fabian, 1992; www.desert-tropicals.com; http://redlist.sanbi.org).