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Fast growing succulent with spiny, tubercular, blue-green stems and abundant basal branches. Plants in habitat may reach up to 3 feet tall with dozens of stems, though plants in cultivation are usually a fraction this big or branchy. The flowers may be pale yellowish brown to pink or purple. They have a putrid smell attracting flies. The spines (modified leaves) are not at all dangerous and seemingly more for decoration than defense.

From western South Africa into Namibia. This plant is the subject of a recent fad (rooted in ancient tradition) based on its supposed properties as an appetite suppressant. Usually grown from seed. Remains solitary until about a year of age, at which time it may start to branch at the base. Provide strong light (but not full sun) and good drainage.

This plant was formerly known as Hoodia gordonii but is now a Ceropegia, like all the stapeliads. It will still be found under the old name in the trade and in health supplements. A classic and well loved member of this group, though not as common as many others due to its reluctance to grow from cuttings.

Dark green to brownish intergeneric hybrid with large, pronounced whitish tubercles. A prolific brancher, given time. Forms clumps to 8 inches or more. Bulbils (little plantlets near the base of flower stalks) are common (at least half the inflorescences will produce them) and may be removed and used for easy propagation.

Well behaved and relatively common in cultivation. May be misidentified or mislabeled, and confused with other hybrids. Parentage is said by some to be Aristaloe aristata x Gasteria batesiana, though the parentage as published in 1957 is Gasteria x Haworthia.

Pale pinkish, tubular flowers with pale whitish-greenish mouths produced in abundance year round. Tolerates full sun (which tends to trigger brownish or sometimes reddish hues) in our mild climate.

Tree Euphorbia from southern Africa, to about 16 feet tall. The stems have 4-6 ribs and bear marked constrictions between successive seasons of growth. They have regular spines and continuous horny spine shields along the ribs. Red or purple fruit appear at the tips in massive clusters. Plants in habitat typically have a single main stem with branches near the top, presumably because the earlier branches are lost over time. Rebranching is rare.

This plant may be confused with the similar E. fortissima (with 3-4 ribs and persistent lower branches) and E. memoralis (which rebranches). It can be easily started from cuttings. The sap is unusually dangerous and may cause severe skin irritation.

Spiny tree from Madagascar with an unusual Seussian habit (especially if left unpruned). The most common member of this genus in cultivation. Dramatic seasonality, usually associated with summer-fall growth and winter rest. Provide regular water during growth and maybe hold back a bit during rest (but year round water in moderation works great in our mild climate). This plant is often cultivated with spiny succulents from Madagascar like the crown of thorns and the tree Pachypodiums. It is entirely compatible with the succulent lifestyle and does very well in containers (up to a certain size/age, anyway).

The common name Madagascar ocotillo references the similarities between this plant (as well as other members of its genus) and the North American ocotillos (Fouquieria spp., especially F. splendens). Both plants produce long, narrow stems studded with fierce spines guarding the leaves; both tend to show dramatic seasonality in their growth pattern; both produce two different types of leaves: the ones associated with new growth are small and short lived, while the ones associated with older growth (the only ones you typically see unless you look closely at the tips) are larger, appear in pairs on this species, and have a sideways orientation. Drought tolerance in both groups is associated with the loss of leaves.

This plant is very easy to propagate from cuttings (time this activity for early summer) and will typically/often branch after beheading. In this way propagation can be entirely sustainable. Or selective annual pruning can be used to transform the tree-like habit to more of a spiny bush.

Beautiful glaucous, dark purplish, fat-leafed rosette succulent with red flowers. The rosette may reach 5-6" and the stem may grow longer than that. Very easily propagated from leaves or cuttings. Branching tends to occur relatively late in life, though leaf propagations usually end up multiheaded, and branching can be triggered en masse by beheading. My plant flowered in early fall.

Usually mislabeled and sold as Echeveria tolimanensis, which looks similar vegetatively but has very different flowers (among other ways, with sepals pointing away from the corolla and not closely pressed up against it).

Parentage is said to be Sedum craigii (a pinkish purple plant with white flowers) x Echeveria affinis (a green or often dark brown-leafed plant with red flowers). Like both parents, it has the best color in strong light. Both parents are involved with other hybrids (eg. 'Ganzhou' from craigii, 'Black Prince' from affinis) and both have a pretty distinctive color and leaf shape.

Vulnerable to attack by mealy bugs (inspect near the base of the leaves near the growth center).

This plant, found in northern Baja California (among other areas), is being removed from habitat in vast quantities and sold for its supposed health benefits, some of which involve burning the leaves. The vast majority of white salvia on the market here is obtained illegally, and its extraction causes massive and lasting harm to habitat.

Salvia blanca can be grown in cultivation without much trouble in its native climate, and the few people who have invested into this mode of production deserve support. Shun any seller who cannot say in some reasonably verifiable way that their product came from cultivated plants.

Smallish Haworthia to about 4 inches wide with brownish leaves bearing many warty tubercles. Closely related to and resembling H. limifolia, but a different color and lacking the characteristic lines on leaf surfaces. Usually solitary (propagated from leaves or seed) but offsetting forms exist and are probably overrepresented in cultivation. Slow growing and said to enjoy a bit of protection from the sun.

The most northerly Haworthia in habitat, from far northeastern South Africa. The smaller, variable var. mcmurtryi has deltoid leaves with a greater degree of translucence, and is reasonably common in cultivation. This species was distributed in recent years as ISI 2019-29 (type variety) and ISI 2014-22 (var. mcmurtryi).

Relatively large medusoid Euphorbia from southern South Africa with a main stem to 5 inches and somewhat upright arms to 4-5 inches (total width about 10 inches). Cyathia (near the tips of the branches) are dark purple with several tiny processes on the outer edge, appearing on non-persistent peduncles.

This plant may be confused with E. colliculina and E. esculenta, both medusoid Euphorbias from the same region, all 3 with relatively fat arms. E. fortuita and colliculina were lumped with esculenta in 2006 but separated again in 2012. Their cyathia have different colored glands (usually red to purple on fortuita); only the glands on fortuita have narrow fingerlike processes; the center of the cyathium is white because of fine wool on fortuita; and the peduncles on colliculina may be persistent.

Monstrose cactus with (mostly) spineless stems that branch profusely and may form a large mound over time. The stem tips, often somewhat involuted, may be pink, but the rest of the plant is light green. Spines may appear where reversions occur; these parts of the plant may not particularly resemble the usual bocasana.

There are apparently several nonidentical Freds with the same general phenotype of many spineless, light green stems. Some are larger than others and some are cresting or manifesting more wildly divergent monstrose growth.

Clumping cactus with stems to 2-8 inches tall and 1-2 inches wide. Usually 4 central spines (sometimes 1 hooked) that are whitish with brown tips; 15-25 spreading, white radial spines. Flowers are white or off-white, fruit is red.

Found on San Pedro Nolasco Island in the Gulf of California, just west of Guaymás, Sonora.

This plant may form prolific colonies of several dozen stems and can be quite impressive in old age. It somewhat resembles an extra tubby, whitish elongata in its general growth habit and presumably can be propagated from cuttings in the same manner.

Solitary or more commonly dichotomously branching bubble cactus with olive green or gray-green stems and short spines. Stems may reach up to 4 inches tall and 2-2.5 inches in diameter. In advanced age, branching plants may reach 12 inches or wider. 2-5 short, rigid central spines; 16-30 short, white radial spines; axils with sparse wool (more abundant in some clones and sometimes alternating over time). Flowers are rather small and purplish pink, and may not open very far. This species is from Oaxaca in southern Mexico, where it grows on gypsum cliffs.

Two subspecies: crucigera (almost always branching, 4-5 yellow or brown central spines, 22-30 radials); tlalocii (solitary, 2-4 whitish central spines, 16-22 radials, tending to grow taller). The former ssp. grandinosa (black spines) is apparently no longer a thing.

Small, usually solitary, globose cactus from higher altitudes (>2000m) across a wide range in Mexico. Plants are 1-5 inches in diameter and retract into the soil during times of drought. They have thick roots, 9-12 ribs, 3-7 short spines per areole. Pink, magenta or white flowers to 3 inches in diameter appear laterally.

3 former subspecies of this plant (acanthosetus, sharpii, weinbergii) have since been split and are now species in their own right.

Found in the Mexican states of Oaxaca, Puebla, Hidalgo, and Querétaro.

Smallish agave to about 2 feet wide with many blue-green leaves that have red margins. Very similar in appearance to 'Blue Glow', a hybrid of ocahui and attenuata. Presumed to have the same parentage. Presumed to be the same as plants sold as 'Jose's Blue Glow' (among other names). One big difference between this plant and 'Blue Glow' is the margins are nearly toothless, while 'Blue Glow' has many fine teeth.

This dwarf succulent species from Madagascar includes plants long circulated in the trade as E. decaryi (via reputable sources like Rauh), which are distinct from the "true" decaryi. The confusion about different forms of decaryi led to the name being retired and the plants distributed into two different botanical boxes: E. boiteaui and E. francoisii. Out of this rearrangement also came E. spirosticha and E. durispina a few years later. Details below.

Upon the formal resolution of the "false" decaryi in 2016, E. boiteaui briefly included (until 2021) a holdover from the era before it, two varieties: spirosticha and ampanihyensis. These two varieties of decaryi, then boiteaui, were subsequently separated and synonimized as E. spirosticha in the 2021 paper. The database (and the CoL) does not currently reflect this latest change, not sure why.

These changes will continue to confuse many people but the most recent discussion in the scientific literature can be found here, along with a key to members of this group.

https://www.researchgate.net/p...

What used to be the "false" decaryi is now called boiteaui, and what used to be the "true" decaryi has been lumped with francoisii, already a highly variable species, especially in leaf color.

Windowed Haworthia hybrid from Suculentas Dzityá in Merida, Yucatán. Named after the state where it was derived. The parentage is given as H. pygmea x H. cooperi vitata (in the database this is cooperi v. cooperi). Leaves are wide and rounded, with triangular windowed tips bearing irregular longitudinal lines and many fine bumps.

This genus of small, spiny cacti from the Chihuahuan Desert of north-central Mexico has been subject to intense, repeated taxonomic reassignment. It was recently split into 3 genera based on genetic analysis, with the addition of Kadenicarpus and Rapicactus.

The revised Turbinicarpus (narrow sense) includes about 20 species. The recently created Kadenicarpus includes 2 former Turbinicarpus species (horripilus, pseudomacrochele) from Hidalgo and Querétaro. Rapicactus, a sister genus to Acharagma, includes 3 former Turbinicarpus species (beguinii, mandragora, subterraneus).

Genetic studies have suggested that the revised Turbinicarpus is closer to Ariocarpus than Kadenicarpus; it is even further away from Rapicactus.

Haworthia truncata hybrid (with cuspidata) with short, fat, windowed leaves in a spiral rosette. Compact and slow growing (more like truncata in this regard).

Medium-sized, offsetting, thread-leafed agave from central Mexico which forms tight clumps over time. Variable. Rosettes reach up to about 2 feet wide. Leaves bear white lines from bud imprints. They have a sharp terminal spine but no teeth. Flowers appear on an unbranched inflorescence in the late spring and summer.

Well behaved in cultivation. An excellent low-maintenance option for the landscape, climate permitting. Very drought tolerant (zero water in our arid climate).

Agave schidigera was formerly considered part of this species. It can be separated based on its solitary habit and its longer, thinner, more pliable leaves with coarser hairs.

Agave filifera is also related to geminiflora, multifilifera, ortgesiana, and other members of the Filiferae; but distinct from the Parviflorae (parviflora, toumeyana, etc.), a group of smaller thread-leafed agaves with significant floral differences.

Large, spiny, much-branched succulent shrub from Namibia, extending just into South Africa. Upright, cactiform habit to about 10 feet high and wide, branching at the base and occasionally above. Green branches have 3-8 wavy ribs and are constricted into segments corresponding to individual years' growth. They bear a continuous horny margin and tubercles with paired stipular spines that are bright red when new, grayish later. Yellow cyathia appear near the tips; 3-chambered capsule is spherical, not angled.

Extremely drought tolerant. Prefers strong light and excellent drainage in cultivation. Not a small plant, given time (allow space in the landscape). New stem growth tends to be extremely seasonal even in our mild climate, occurring during the summer.

This plant may be confused with E. avasmontana, a slightly smaller plant which is not as sharply constricted into segments and not as concave between ribs. Plants labeled virosa in the trade may actually be avasmontana. The sap is a potent irritant.

Clumping aloe hybrid with leaves that turn a striking reddish orange color when stressed. Leaves are green under less stressful conditions, with elongated whitish spots on both upper and lower surfaces. Reddish orange flowers with yellowish mouths and interiors appear in capitate racemes on and off, year round. This is a great plant for color in the dry garden, especially given its tendency to flower during the summer, when other aloes do not. It is a hummingbird magnet even when other aloes are in bloom, but especially when they are not.

This Cynthia Giddy hybrid from South Africa has as one of its parents Aloe zubb, an East African plant formerly known as Aloe sinkatana. Rooikappie is Afrikaans for little red riding hood.

Distributed in 2004 as ISI 2004-13.