Portulacaria namaquensis or Namaqua porkbush stems

Portulacaria namaquensis has whitish or silvery grey to red-brown bark that is smooth, waxy and tending to peel or flake in papery patches. The youngest stems may be almost white, creamy or greenish and forked dichotomously, i.e. in two equal branches like a snake’s tongue.

The leaves grow from transverse, oval scars or black patches, barely shoots, properly called brachyblasts, scattered along the stem surfaces.

In habitat, the leaves are present in winter, being deciduous in the rest season when the heat is not fought in active mode, the conditions too dry. In cultivation, where environmental challenges may be less, these plants tend to retain their leaves all year round.

The bark is used as cordage or thongs, bringing the tree the common but now disused name of hotnotsriem (Hottentot’s thong).

When P. namaquensis is grown in cultivation, it is usually grafted on P. afra, the plants widely distributed and strong-growing spekboom cousin. Otherwise summer cuttings are planted in peat blocks, a newer method also found to be successful (Mannheimer and Curtis, (Eds.), 2009; Coates Palgrave, 2002; Frandsen, 2017; iNaturalist; http://cactus-art.biz; www.llifle.com).