Pachypodium densiflorum var . Brevicalyx 10 seeds

Especially the species from Madagascar came into cultivation quite late. Although they were already described in the 19th century, most species of this island only became known after the Second World War through the travels of the Heidelberg botanist Rauh. Then it turned out that some species (such as P. lamerei and P. geayi) were so easy to grow that they soon found their way to the greenhouses of amateur succulent growers.

A characteristic species from South Africa is P. namaquanum. The plant forms unbranched trunks to heights of 2 meters with a crown of leaves on top. In South Africa, this plant is called the “half human”. The flowers originate in this crown and are reddish-brown in color with yellow stripes. The whole plant body has 5 cm long thorns. It grows in the rocky and barren desert around the Orange River and forms a ghostly appearance in the rugged lunar landscape of Namaqualand with its bottle-shaped body. In the hortus you can find this species in the South African beds of the desert compartment of the Three-Climate greenhouse.