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What is visible of a 35
centimetre caudex.
Digging up my own plant in Port
Elizabeth, South Africa.
An old riverbed is not the most
easy thing to dig in!
But the reward is great: My
plant, nice and round, 37 centimetres in diameter.
Other plants from my own rescue mission.
An other rescued beauty from Port
Elizabeth, South Africa.
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This member of the Asclepiadaceae*
family grow in southern Africa. It was
given this name
by Karl Moritz
Schumann in 1895. It grows in a well drained soil with some water and some
to lots of sun. The caudex can grow op
to 60 cm in diameter, and the vines reach 4 meters in height. As seen on
the photo below, the small flowers are white. Besides from seeds, it can be reproduced by
cutting.
My plant originates from
a rescue mission I lead, in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, in 2007.
A huge area was due to be bulldozed and build on, and I managed to
saw a few of those magnificent and very old plants. They grow in an old
riverbed, hard as an old gravel road, packed with fist- to head
sized round rocks. Brought one plant back
to Denmark.
One of the few caudiciforms with an eatable caudex. At least, that is
what the Hottentots are told to have done in Namibia, and I have heard
South Africans also ate it, when there were a lack of food. I have not been
able to find a recipe yet.
The caudex grows faster if it is covered with soil. It can't stand frost.
It seems like having two kinds of branches, one tree-like, the other
vines. Especially older plants seems to have really few branches,
compared with their caudex size.
The small seedlings
forms their caudex visible, on top of the soil. After a year or two, it will
expand deeper and deeper, and finally form a huge caudex, starting half an
meter deep. The young plants will survive to be raised, but the
new growth to the caudex will most likely take place under ground.
*This family might
been incorporated in the Apocynaceae
family now.
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2008, and it easily reaches the
sealing. Problem being it won't grow down again. If a branch turns
down, it dies within days.
Almost a meter
high.
The normal size in trade.
The flowers are small, between 0,5 to 1,5 cm. It will
get green pods.
40
centimetres in diameter, and too big for my window. |
