Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Cephalophyllum sp


Cephalophyllum sp
This small South African "pigface" family succulent came to me with a wrong name and after a bit of searching I came across a good match as to what it might be.
I used 'The Timber Press Guide to Succulent Plants of the World' by Fred Dortort as reference.
Pinning it down to a species is proving more difficult and at the moment it is a toss up between alstonii, stayneri or framesii. 
There are about 30 species in the Genus and they display a wide range of jewel like flower colours. Growth occurs mainly in winter, no doubt as a response to rainfall.
The parent plant has spread to about 30 cm across and is quite decorative even when not if flower as the leaves resemble small grey green birthday candles with bright pink tips.
These flowers came out during the last few days and I like the way they stand above the leaves on short stems.

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