Desert Plants and Wild Flowers Images: Cotyledon

Showing posts with label Cotyledon. Show all posts

Cotyledon orbiculata var. orbiculata near Oudtshoorn

Fresh seed of Cotyledon orbiculata var. orbiculata near Oudtshoorn available here:

Cotyledon orbiculata var. orbiculata near Oudtshoorn leaf

I found this rather attractive form of what I believe is Cotyledon orbiculata var. orbiculata in the wild near Oudtshoorn. All the plants I found were slightly infested with lice. The seed capsules are rather small as compared to the nearby growing Cotyledon orbiculata var. spuria . The corolla tube is less then 10 mm in length. Harvesting of the seed was done long after the capsules had ripened, producing little seed. With the seed being almost invisible, even with magnifying glasses. Seed will not be without other capsule debris included. We do however guarantee a minimum of 10 seeds per packet.

Cotyledon orbiculata var. spuria Oudtshoorn

Fresh seed of Cotyledon orbiculata var. spuria near Oudtshoorn available here:

Although not photographed, the seed we have available has partly been taken from plants with very wide leaves. The corolla tube is about 18 to 20 mm long.

Cotyledon undulata

Fresh seed of Cotyledon undulata (Oudtshoorn) available here:

Cotyledon undulata flowering in front of Echinocactus grusonii

Synonym: Cotyledon orbiculata var. oblonga. The description of "Rolling Edge" , a variant of Cotyledon orbiculata var. orbiculata also seems to fit the plants here discussed however.

I prefer to use the name Cotyledon undulata, even if it is just for the sake of communication. It makes it easier to distinguish between different forms as long as they are somewhat geographically separated

Close to our farm south of Oudtshoorn both a flat leaved fairly tall form of Cotyledon orbiculata var. spuria and Cotyledon undulata grow in close proximity (500 meters or so) to each other and in similar habitat. There are no hybrids detected although they seem to keep some distance from each other. I hope to take some pictures under a microscope of the flowers of both kinds for comparison.

Seed of Cotyledon undulata under a microscope compared to millimeters on a ruler. Because of their small size the seeds should rather be planted on top of the (sandy) soil. I do cover them however with a +- single layer of coarse sand.