Adenium multiflorum

Adenium multiflorum, commonly known as the impala lily, the Sabie star or as the specific name, multiflorum, has it, the many-flowered adenium, grows sparsely branched swollen stems to 3 m tall. Scientifically this plant used to be called A. obesum var. multiflorum.

The Sabie star is usually only a succulent shrub or shrublet, sometimes with tuberous base. The shape of the plant has been likened to that of the baobab tree, their sizes vastly different. In spite of its usually small stature, the species is listed among the numbered indigenous trees of South Africa in the National List of Indigenous Trees produced by the Dendrological Foundation (No. 647.3).

The plant grows in the northeast of the country, in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal, as well as in parts of Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Swaziland.

The Sabie River runs through this region and antelopes called impala roam the wooded grassland and arid woodland in large herds. The habitat population of the impala lily is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Manning, 2009; Germishuizen and Clarke, 2003; Codd, 1951; iNaturalist; Wikipedia; https://pza.sanbi.org; http://redlist.sanbi.org).