Tylecodon wallichii
{{Short description|Species of succulent}}
{{Speciesbox
|image = 5 Tylecodon wallichii - Montagu RSA.jpg
|image_caption = Tylecodon wallichii in Montagu.
|status =
|status_system =
|genus = Tylecodon
|species = wallichii
|synonyms = {{species list |Cotyledon wallichii|Harv.
|Tylecodon papillaris subsp. wallichii|(Harv.) G.D.Rowley}}
}}
Tylecodon wallichii is a species of succulent plant in the genus Tylecodon belonging to the family Crassulaceae. The species is named in honour of Nathaniel Wallich, early 19th century Danish plant hunter, botanist and physician.
Description
File:Tylecodon wallichii Flowers.jpg
File:Tylecodon wallichii Richtersveld.jpg]]
Tylecodon wallichii is a low sparsely branched shrublet reaching a height of about 50 cm (up to 1 m) with a single thick succulent stem up to 6 cm in diameter. Greyish branches are densely covered with residual leaf bases (phyllopodia) up to 1.5 cm long and crowded leaves on their tips. Leaves are yellowish to ash-green, hairless, ascending, slightly curved inward, tapering towards the apex, with a shallow groove along upper side, 6.5 — 9.5 cm (up to 15 cm) long. Plants blossom during summer, producing spreading to pendent clusters of dangling yellowish-green, urn-shaped flowers of 7-12 mm long with spreading to recurved lobes.{{cite book |last1=Eggli |first1=Urs |title=Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants: Crassulaceae |date=2003 |publisher=Springer Berlin Heidelberg |location=Berlin, Heidelberg |isbn=978-3-642-55874-0 |page=364}}{{cite book |last1=F. Smith |first1=Gideon |last2=R Crouch |first2=Neil |last3=Figueiredo |first3=Estrela |title=Field Guide to Succulents of Southern Africa |date=2017 |publisher=Penguin Random House South Africa |isbn=9781775843672 |page=320}}
It hybridises with Tylecodon paniculatus.{{cite book |last1=Manning |first1=John C.. |title=Field guide to wild flowers of South Africa |date=2013 |publisher=Random House Struik |location=Cape Town |isbn=9781920544874 |page=236}}
Distribution
Gravelly or sandy slopes of South Namibia and RCA from Namaqualand into the Great and Little Karoo.{{cite web|url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:276933-1|title=Tylecodon wallichii (Harv.) Toelken|accessdate=21 January 2022|work=Plants of the World Online|publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens Kew}}
Toxicity
The plant contains bufadienolide-type cardiac glycoside cotyledoside which causes nenta poisoning ("krimpsiekte") in livestock.{{cite book |last1=Kellerman |first1=T. S. |last2=Coetzer |first2=J. A. W. |last3=Naudé |first3=T. W. |last4=Botha |first4=C. J. |title=Plant poisonings and mycotoxicoses of livestock in southern Africa |date=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0195761344 |pages=116–146 |edition=2nd}}
Subspecies
- Tylecodon wallichii subsp. wallichii — South Namibia, RCA (Northern Cape)
- Tylecodon wallichii subsp. ecklonianus (Harv.) Toelken — South Namibia, RCA (Northern and Western Cape)
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- [https://worldofsucculents.com/tylecodon-wallichii-pegleg-butterbush// World of Succulents]
- [http://www.bihrmann.com/caudiciforms/subs/tyl-wal-sub.asp Bihrmann]
{{Taxonbar|from=Q17759662}}
Category:Plants described in 1978