Tylecodon reticulatus subsp. reticulatus dry fruit husks

The sifkop or Tylecodon reticulatus subsp. reticulatus provides all these dry and wiry obstacles for leaf browsers to negotiate before anything soft and juicy may be accessed. The finger-like leaves will appeal to some, but the sacrifice makes at least some of the hungry think twice.

The greenish yellow flowers that preceded these elegantly shaped objects had pink and purple colouring upon their five petal lobes, apart from sparsely scattered shiny hairs. Blooms of last summer are gone, the dry flower arrangement all that remains (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; http://www.succulents.co.za).