''Tylecodon buchholzianus'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

succulent plant In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word ''succulent'' comes from the Latin word ''sucus'', meani ...

in the genus ''

Tylecodon ''Tylecodon'' is a genus of succulent plants in the family Crassulaceae, native to southern Africa. Until the late 1970s all these plants were included in the genus ''Cotyledon'', but in 1978 Helmut Toelken of the Botanical Research Institute, P ...

'' belonging to the family

Crassulaceae The Crassulaceae (from Latin ''crassus'', thick), also known as the stonecrop family or the orpine family, are a diverse family of dicotyledon flowering plants characterized by succulent leaves and a unique form of photosynthesis, known as Cr ...

Description

''Tylecodon buchholzianus'' is a shrub reaching a height of about 20–30 cm. It is a winter slow-growing plant, dormant during the summer. The stem is a swollen and thickened

caudex A caudex (plural: caudices) of a plant is a Plant stem, stem, but the term is also used to mean a rootstock and particularly a basal stem structure from which new growth arises.pages 456 and 695 In the strict sense of the term, meaning a stem, " ...

with a diameter up to 30 cm and many elongate whitish or grey branches. In the Spring arise almost cylindrical green leaves, about 10 cm long, but the photosynthesis may be granted also by microscopic leaflets on the stem. Flowers are pale pink, have recurved lobes and emerge from tubes on short petioles. Flowering period extends from January to late Spring.

Distribution

This species is native to

Namaqualand Namaqualand ( khoekhoe: "Nama-kwa" meaning Nama Khoe people's land) is an arid region of Namibia and South Africa, extending along the west coast over and covering a total area of . It is divided by the lower course of the Orange River in ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

and

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and e ...

Subspecies

* ''Tylecodon buchholzianus var. buchholzianus'' * ''Tylecodon buchholzianus var. fasciculatus''

References

Cactus-art

Bihrmann

Crassulaceae
buchholzianus {{Crassulaceae-stub