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Tylecodon wallichii

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Tylecodon wallichii
Tylecodon wallichii in Montagu.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Saxifragales
Family: Crassulaceae
Genus: Tylecodon
Species:
T. wallichii
Binomial name
Tylecodon wallichii
Synonyms
  • Cotyledon wallichii Harv.

Tylecodon wallichii is a species of succulent plant in the genus Tylecodon belonging to the family Crassulaceae.[1] The species is named in honour of Nathaniel Wallich, early 19th century Danish plant hunter, botanist and physician.

Description

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Detail of Tylecodon wallichii flowers. Anysberg Nature Reserve.
Tylecodon wallichii in winter. Richtersveld National Park

Tylecodon wallichii is a low sparsely branched shrublets reaching a height of about 50 cm (up to 1 m) with a single thick succulent stem up to 6 cm in diameter. Greyish branches are densely covered with residual leaf bases (phyllopodia) up to 1.5 cm long and crowded leaves on their tips. Leaves are yellowish to ash-green, hairless, ascending, slightly curved inward, tapering towards the apex, with a shallow groove along upper side, 6.5 — 9.5 cm (up to 15 cm) long. Plants blossom during summer, producing spreading to pendent clusters of dangling yellowish-green, urn-shaped flowers of 7-12 mm long with spreading to recurved lobes.[2][3]

Hybridises with Tylecodon paniculatus.[4]

Distribution

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Gravelly or sandy slopes of South Namibia and RCA from Namaqualand into the Great and Little Karoo.[1]

Toxicity

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The plant contains bufadienolide-type cardiac glycoside cotyledoside which causes nenta poisoning ("krimpsiekte") in livestock.[5]

Subspecies

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Tylecodon wallichii (Harv.) Toelken". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  2. ^ Eggli, Urs (2003). Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants: Crassulaceae. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 364. ISBN 978-3-642-55874-0.
  3. ^ F. Smith, Gideon; R Crouch, Neil; Figueiredo, Estrela (2017). Field Guide to Succulents of Southern Africa. Penguin Random House South Africa. p. 320. ISBN 9781775843672.
  4. ^ Manning, John C.. (2013). Field guide to wild flowers of South Africa. Cape Town: Random House Struik. p. 236. ISBN 9781920544874.
  5. ^ Kellerman, T. S.; Coetzer, J. A. W.; Naudé, T. W.; Botha, C. J. (2005). Plant poisonings and mycotoxicoses of livestock in southern Africa (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 116–146. ISBN 978-0195761344.
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