SucculentReviewEssex

Volume 54 Number 1 March 2017

In this issue

Day trips forConophytums

by Chris Rodgerson

Fogby Paul Klaassen

Some interestingEuphorbias

by Bob Potter

2

SucculentReviewEssex

The Essex Succulent Review ispublished quarterly in March,June, September and December.

It is available on-line free ofcharge. Just send an email tosheila@essexsucculentreview.org.ukto receive a pdf of each issuewhen it is available.

Past issues are archived atwww.essexsucculentreview.org.ukEditor Sheila Cude

Address 25 Macleod RoadLondon N21 1SW

Phone 020 8340 1928Emailsheila@essexsucculentreview.org.uk

The 12th Spalding Cactus Martwill be held on

Saturday 22nd April 201710.00am–3.00pm

Holbeach Community Centre, Fishpond Lane,Holbeach, Lincs P12 7DE

At least 14 sellers in attendanceAmple free parking and free admission to the Mart

Refreshments available all day For further details please see the

Spalding Branch website

South-East Cactus MartSaturday 29 April 2017

10.00am to 3.00pmFollowing the success of last year’s Mart this will be repeated

at the same venue Swalecliffe Community Centre, 19 St John's Road,

Whitstable, CT5 2QURefreshments available all day Adults £1 Children free

For more information and directions contactDave J Appleton, Herne Bay Branch Secretary

Zone 15 Events March–July 2017Sunday 19 March 12noon–5.00pmZone 15 Mini-conventionSpeakers Kathy and Keith Flanagan, Alice Vanden BonAll tickets for this event have been sold.

Saturday and Sunday 22 and 23 April 10.00am–4.00pmDisplay of plants, plant sales and information stand for the Essex PlantHeritage, Spring Fair at RHS Hyde Hall.

Saturday and Sunday 20 and 21 May 10.00am–4.00pmPlant display in conjunction with the Haworthia Society at RHS Hyde Hall.

Saturday 28 May 12noon–4.00pmLea Valley Branch Annual Show: Capel Manor College, Bullsmoor Lane, Enfield EN1 4RQThe plants remain on display over the May Bank Holiday weekend and theshow includes sales of cacti, succulents and garden plants.

Saturday 3 June 11.00am–4.00pmHavering Branch Annual Show1st Floor, YMCA, Rush Green Road, RM7 0PH

Saturday 10 June 11.00am–4.00pmSouthend-on-Sea Branch Show: United Reformed Church Hall, Kings Road, Leigh-on-Sea SS0 8PP

Saturday 8 July 10.30am–4.00pmWaltham Forest Branch Show:Chingford Horticultural Hall, Larkshall Road, Chingford E4 6PE Plant sales from 9.00am

Saturday 15 July 12noon–4.00pmZone 15 Annual ShowUnited Reformed Church Hall, Kings Road, Leigh-on-Sea SS0 8PP

EditorialWe didn’t actually have an editorialin the last issue, I wonder ifanybody missed it. I suspectprobably not.

We have revamped the EssexSucculent Review websiteconsiderably, and it is now mobilefriendly. This is achieved with anincredibly clever piece of softwarewhich will sense what device youare looking at the site on and resizeit to give the best possible viewingexperience. I could not possiblyhave done this myself – and Iwould like to thank my partner,Paul, for all the had work he putinto this. Unfortunately it is notpossible to resize the pdfs.

Having completed the first ESRissue of the year I am alreadyplanning ahead for the remainder ofthe year. Like every editor,everywhere, I always need morematerial. One of my mottos is‘Written by growers for othergrowers’ and I am sure that there isa wealth of untapped talent outthere. If you have a suggestion foran article please let me know. Itdoesn’t have to be a long item, as Ican always use shorter items orfillers.

I’ll hope to hear from you

I had been a great fan of the book,‘Copiapoa in their environment’ by RudolfSchulz and Attila Kapitany (1996) and sowas very happy to be invited to make up aBritish car party for a trip to the ChileanAtacama Desert in 2001 to join Rudolf andAttila for a further study of the plants. Weexperienced the famous camanchaca,cloud banks that occur along the Chileancoast. We found many cactus andsucculent locations and recorded their GPScoordinates.

In 2008 I made two trips in quicksuccession to Baja California, againrecording the coordinates where we foundcacti and other succulents in habitat andthe locations wherewe photographedthe plants.

Back home in theUK, I would plotthese locations onGoogle Earth, avirtual globe, mapand geographicalinformation programthat can bedownloaded free ofcharge for Windows,OS X, Linuxcomputers andAndroid 8.0.0 andiOS mobiletelephones. I was

intrigued to find that the coastal area,where Copiapoa, Eriosyce sensu lato andEulychnia, to name but a few, grow in theAtacama Desert, in the southernhemisphere is almost a mirror of the PacificOcean area along the Baja California coastin the northern hemisphere. Again, we raninto dense fog.

Coincidence?

A search on the internet for ‘camanchaca’led me to ‘fog-deserts’, which confirmedthat the Atacama Desert and parts of BajaCalifornia, in particular the Vizcaino Desert,are fog-deserts and that the third suchdesert is the Namib Desert in South Africa,particularly the Skeleton Coast, where the

3

Above: Eulychniataltalensis, covered inlichen and algae, ontop of the coastalhills above Paposo

The water droplets of the fog collect onthe spines of Eulychnia taltalensis andon lichen and guide them to the soilwhere roots of the cacti and otherlomas vegetation can benefit from theonly source of water. Other cacti found here: Copiapoa humilis, the high-altitude form of Copiapoa cinerea subsp. haseltoniana,Eriosyce paucicostata, and E. taltalensis. Succulents include a Calandrinia sp., Euphorbia lactiflua, Nolana sp. and a Viola sp.

by Paul Klaassen

4

Fog continued

frequent thickcoastal fogcaused manyshipwrecks thatgave the area itsname.

I learned that thekey requirementswere a hot bodyof arid landalong a coldbody of water.During the hotday, air over landwarms up morequickly than that

above the sea surface. As the hot air rises,it pulls cooler air from the sea and so setsup a light sea breeze. Dewpoint is the pointwhere temperature, relative humidity andbarometric pressure conspire for water tocondense and form fog or mist. Thedifference between ‘fog’ and ‘mist’depends on a number of definitions but insimple terms it centres on the size of theparticles and the distance over whichobjects can be seen.

After sunset the land cools down morequickly than water so that the direction of

the wind is reversed. I remember at theBotija Valley setting up our tents (duringdaylight) with the opening facing inland. Bythe time we turned in, the wind directionhad turned and had filled the tent withsmoke from the bonfire.

The Humboldt Current comes from theSouth Pole and passes along the SouthAmerican Pacific coast, past the AtacamaDesert where it is said there are areaswhere it has ‘never’ rained.

As the name implies, the Vizcaino Desert isalso an extremely dry place, a desert beingdefined as an area receiving less than25cm (10") of precipitation per year. Thecold body of water in this case is theCalifornia Current in the Pacific Ocean. Bycomparison, annual precipitation averagesfor the UK are 885 millimetres (33.7"). So,although we get plenty of fog in the UK, weare far from being a desert.

The fog in the Namib Desert comes fromthe Benguela Current in the Atlantic Ocean.

These three currents, together with theSomali Current and the Canary Current, areaffiliated with ‘upwelling zones’.

I found a neat graph showing that the twopoles are the driest places. In joint second

Graph showing zonalmean precipitationi.e. precipitationagainst latitude

Crossing the Tropic of Cancer on the road between Zaragosa and Victoria in Mexico with signs showing how the exactlocation of the tropic moves each year. Photo: Roberto González licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International

Fog continued

place are the Tropics of Cancer andCapricorn at a latitude of 23°26'13.5" northand south of the equator respectively,which corresponds to the axial tilt of theplanet.

It just so happens that these tropics crossthe Atacama Desert and the BajaPeninsula. One year, in the bar of theannual ELK cactus and succulent plantevent in Blankenberge, Belgium, I wasdiscussing this with friends and suggestedthat, as we had already visited theAtacama Desert and Baja California inpursuit of cacti, we should really visit theNamib Desert to complete the trio of fogdeserts.

After some prompting and teasing atsubsequent ELKs, in 2011 I finally had mybluff called and announced that I would goin September 2012 and surprised myfriends by adding that I wanted to go for 13weeks – three months!

Even before I had been to Namibia, I wasbooked to present ‘Fog’ at theSucculenticom 2014 in Brisbane and itbecame the topic of choice for a mini-tourof cactus and succulent societies inCalifornia and Nevada (Las Vegas) thefollowing Spring.

I started to sort through my images of trips

to Chile and Baja California and, although Ihad pictures of stops at the monumentsthat mark the position of the tropic'slatitude, imagine my surprise to find thatour GPS seemed to be out by a fewseconds. This is due to a ‘wobble’ thatplanet Earth experiences as it spins aroundits axis, so that the exact position of thetropics can vary by a few metres from yearto year.

I travelled to the point where the Tropic ofCapricorn crosses the coast in Namibiaand retrieved images from my archives ofthe coast in Chile and Baja Californiawhere the tropics crossed. I concludedthat, although the science suggests aspecific spot to observe these conditions,they can be experienced in a zone of some100km or more around this point.

So why do we care? Because we have aninterest in cacti and other succulent plantswhich, in nature, have evolved to surviveand thrive in such arid environments. Here,without the presence of regular fogs, noplant life is possible and thus animal life isseverely restricted, as we found when wevisited the disused airport of the town ofMaria Elena in northern Chile that is said tobe the driest place on earth. There may bedrier places – but they have no facilities tomeasure precipitation figures.

5

View from the top of the coastal hills at Las Lomitas in the Pan de Azucar

6

Fog continued

Chile – Atacama Desert

The previous page shows a view from thetop of the coastal hills at Las Lomitas inthe Pan de Azucar with the thin cloudcoming in from the Pacific Ocean turninginto fog as it is blocked by the hills. Very

little fog can penetratefarther inland, creating a‘no precipitationshadow’ over theextremely dry AtacamaDesert where hardly anyplants can survive.

Cacti at the top of thecoastal hills hereinclude: Copiapoa grandiflora, C. cinerea subsp.columna-alba (Ritter’s C. melanohistrix) Eulychnia saint-pieana.

Also at Las Lomitas, inthe north of the Pan deAzucar National Park,above Esmeralda, areNature’s fog nets,Eulychnia saint-pieana.

Behind are man-madefog nets that measurethe volume of water thatcould be collected inthis way. Also here, Copiapoa esmeraldana,andC. cinerea subsp.columna-alba, (C. melanohistrix) .

Some plants haveevolved a geophytic lifestyle to reduce waterloss, such as hereEuphorbia copiapinagrowing south ofCaldera. Said to be rare,it is actually quitecommon, but rarelyseen: only when the foghas provided sufficienthumidity as in an ElNiño season.

El Niño is the warm phase of the El NiñoSouthern Oscillation and is associated witha band of warm ocean water that developsin the central and east-central equatorialPacific, including off the Pacific coast ofSouth America.

Euphorbia copiapina

Eulychnia saint-pieana and man-made fog nets at Las Lomitas

Nolana crassulifolia

Nolana are not ‘true’ succulents, as they do not store water to enable the plants tosurvive long periods of drought. The leavesshrivel and dry up when conditions are too dry.

7

Fog continued

In Baja California, the Tropic of Cancercrosses the Pacific Coast just south ofTodos Santos. This is an arid area(250–500mm precipitation per annum)rather than a desert (less than 250 mm).Each time that I have been here there wasbright sunshine, but at San Carlos and IslaMagdalena and in the Vizcaino Desert,south of Guerreo Negro, about 100–450kmfarther north, morning fog is the order ofthe day.

The Capitan of the panga (fishing boat) thatwas due to take us to Isla Magdalenacalled early to cancel our trip – his SatNavdid not work in the fog. “Never mind, oursdo!” Each of us carries a GPS unit torecord where we see plants of interest.

The picture to the right shows Mammillaria(Cochemiea) halei on Isla Magdalena,dripping with moisture from the thick fog.Also found on this small island: Agave margaritae, Bursera microphylla, Cylindropuntia cholla,

Dudleya albiflora, Echinocereus barthelowanus, Fouquieria splendens, Grusonia santamaria, Mammillaria dioica, Opuntia pycnantha. margaritana,Pachycormus discolour, Pedilanthus macrocarpus, Peniocereus striatus 'diguetii'Stenocereus (Machaerocereus) gummosus.

Mexico – Baja California

Pachycormus discolor var. veatchiana

8

Fog continued

On the previous page Pachycormusdiscolor var. veatchiana, shaped by theprevalent wind off the Pacific Ocean nearthe beach on Isla Cedros.

We also photographed Agave sebastiana, Dudley acuminate, D. albiflora, Echinocereus maritimus, Mammillaria (Cochemiea) pondii, M. goodridgii and Opuntia oricola.

Below: Stenocereus (Machaerocereus)eruca, the Creeping Devil along the roadfrom San Carlos to Ciudad Constitution.

The human Creeping Devil is my friendAlain Buffel from Oostende, Belgium.

Also here: various species ofCylindropuntia, Ferocactus townsendianus,Mammillaria dioica.

NamibiaThe Tropic of Capricorn

crosses the Namibiancoast just south of

Swakopmund. Herewe did see thickfog and, as inBaja California,the fog coulddrift hundreds ofmiles inland,unhindered bycoastalmountains, unlike

the AtacamaDesert. No cacti

here, but plenty ofthe other succulents,

with tree aloes and tall‘cactus-like’ Euphorbia able

to fill the role of fog catchers andminiature geophyte succulents such as

Lithops hiding from the strong sun, just asthe Thelocephala group, in the genusEriosyce, do in Chile.

Here, the regular fogs stretch north to theAngolan border, and probably beyond,while 11 degrees (some 1,280km) to thesouth, Table Mountain near Cape Town isoften shrouded in cloud, covering themountain like a table cloth. While there arefrequent fogs further south, there is toomuch precipitation to consider that to be adesert region.

In any of these three fog deserts, theauthorities have been so kind as to put uproad traffic signs to tell you to put yourheadlights on when you run into fog.

Of course, in thick fog, the first you knowof these instructions is a loud CLUNK asthe car runs into the sign.

9

Fog continued

That’s why the area north of Swakopmundis known as the Skeleton Coast! Here, thewreck of the Zeila has been left as a hometo sea birds, while the Atlantic Ocean doesthe demolition work. The mounds on thebeach are Zygophyllum sp., xerophyticshrubs with succulent leaves that aredropped at times of drought, just likeNolana in Chile.

Below: A field covered in Welwitschiamirabilis, the iconic fog plant of the NamibDesert, with the Brandberg in thebackground. The plants grow some 100kmfrom the Atlantic coast and the Brandbergis the first feature that stands in the way offog as it drifts inland.

The ceroid-like Euphorbia virosa replacesthe Eulychnia and Trichocereus sp. in theAtacama Desert and the Pachycereus sp.found in Baja California.

The lichen fields at Alexander Bay, north ofPort Nolloth, South Africa, may look verydesolate, but the fog drifting in from theAtlantic Ocean that dominates the weatherhere, enables a very diverse flora to surviveor even thrive. I photographed Cheiridopsis brownii, Crassula deceptor, C. nudicaulis. herrrei, two other Crassula sp., Euphorbia ramiglans, Fenestraria rhodophylla,

The wreck of the Zeila

Below: Welwitschia mirabilis

10

Fog continued

Lithops herrei, two other Mesemb. sp. Monsonia (Sarcocaulon) patersonii, and the bright red lichen, Teloschistes capensi.

I had always associated most of the ‘othersucculents’ with plants requiring extrawarmth in the English greenhouse, but here our photography was slowed down by continually having to take off our gloves as the early morning temperature rose from 2° to 5°C.

On the coastal hills in the Atacama Desert,where you can see the camanchaca rollingin from the Ocean, I recorded a 15°C dropin temperature as we became engulfed bythe cloud. Not only does the fog providemoisture but it also protects plants fromthe extreme heat often found at theselatitudes.

Photos by Paul Klaassen except whereindicated otherwise

Below: the lichenfields at AlexanderBay and, inset,Fenestrariarhodophylla growingthere.The geophytic habitis also found inThelocephala andEuphorbia such as E. copiapina in theAtacamaDesert.

Euphorbia virosa

11

Like many cactophiles, I have several otherhobbies; these include golf, playing theukulele, and philately. These hobbies canhave unexpected crossovers. For example Ihave six ukuleles which are in one way oranother decorated with cactus designs. Mystamp collection includes ten largeoverflowing albums of cactus andsucculent philatelic material. A hugenumber of genera are represented therein,

so why an article on fat trees on stamps?Two reasons: I have seen many of these inhabitat (they are magnificent plants), and Ilike the title!

This article may seem to have a narrowfocus, but when one takes into accountpostage stamps, revenues, specimens,unusual uses, first day covers, postmarks,mini sheets, used postcards, overprints,varieties, errors, forgeries, ‘cinderellas’ etc.,

Fat tree philatelyby Rick Gillman

Fig. 1 Part of the famous ‘BaobabAlley’ in Madagascar featured on astamp and a postcard The trees are Adansoniagrandidieri

Fig. 2 The authorat ‘Baobab Alley’, abit further alongthe road

12

Fat tree philately continued

there is a huge amount that might becollected. In this article, I am restrictingmyself to the ‘other succulents’, as toinclude cacti would at least triple theamount of possible material to include, andwould probably send the reader to sleep.

I'll start with what I consider to be aniconic image – that of ‘Baobab Alley’ inMadagascar (Fig. 1). The postcard showsthe image which the design of the stamp

thereon was presumably based. It ispostmarked 1952, the year the stamp wasissued. The stamp itself is a piece of art,having been produced using the ‘lineengraving’ technique, as were so many ofthe beautiful older French stamps. I visitedBaobab Alley and attempted (poorly) tocapture a similar image of myself! (Fig. 2).

Also in Madagascar can be found hugepachypodiums which are depicted onseveral of their stamps, (Fig. 3), again areally beautiful image. Pachypodiums alsofeature on the stamps of South West Africa(Fig. 4), whilst baobabs, their flowers orfruits (Fig. 5) feature on the stamps of over20 other countries, many of which haveused baobab postmarks too. Most, but notall, of these countries are African.

Some of the baobab stamps are ratherrare. British Bechuanaland issued a seriesof definitive stamps featuring baobabs in1932, 1938, 1955 and 1961; each seriesshowing the relevant British monarch (KingGeorge V, George VI and Queen ElizabethII), with the last series being overprintedwith new currency values whendecimalisation took place. The stamps areusually known as the ‘cattles’ as they alsofeature three cattle grazing. The top values

Fig. 3 A rareimperforate blockfrom the top edge ofa sheet ofMadagscan stampsfeaturing‘Pachypodes’Below: one of thestamps

Below: Fig. 4 The‘half mens’ plant,Pachypodiumnamaquanum,another rareimperforate pair,probably a colourproofBelow right: Fig. 5Two stamps fromBotswana featuringthe flower and fruit ofAdansonia digitata

13

in the King George V issue(Fig. 6) are very collectibleas are some of theoverprinted Queen ElizabethII stamps (Fig. 7), because anumber of differentoverprint fonts were used(sometimes on the samesheet of stamps!) makingsome of them quite rare.

The same design was alsoused on revenue stampsand postal stationery.

But what else can befound?

The Black Sea coastal port ofBatumi (now known as Batum)had been part of the RussianEmpire but fell under Britishoccupation at the end of WorldWar 1, and the Town Councilissued a set of imperforatestamps with an Aloe tree design(why? I do not know!). Later on,

the role of stamp issuance wastaken on by theBritish, and stampswere overprintedaccordingly (Fig. 8).

Fat tree philately continued

Fig 7 A very raremint block of fourQueen Elizabeth II‘cattles’ with thetype one overprint ofone rand. Only 1,800stamps were thusoverprinted, of whicharound 700 wereused on first daycovers, and 300remain in archives inBotswana (formerlyBritish Bechuanaland)

Above: Fig. 6 The top value of the KingGeorge V ‘cattles’, with a neat circulardate stamp

Fig 9 A stamp from Namibia depicting a Quiver Tree (Aloe dichotoma)forest, and a mini sheet from the same series of stamps, cancelled withthe same design as the Aloe stamp

Fig. 10 Stamps of South West Africa issued in 1937, bilinguallyoverprinted for official use in 1938. The Aloe tree is in the bottom lefthand corner. On this used pair, the overprints have been printed on thewrong stamps (the English stamp being overprinted in Afrikaans)

Fig. 11 Another stamp from South West Africafeaturing Aloe dichotoma

Fig. 8 Stamps from Batum featuring an Aloe tree. One ofthem is a forgery (see page 14)

14

Fat tree philately continued

A large number of forgeries of thesestamps were produced, and part of theinterest that collectors of these have is inidentifying them! Personally I find theforgeries as fascinating as the real thing.Can you spot the difference (see answerright)?

Aloe trees can also be found on the stampsof other African nations, for exampleNamibia (Fig. 9), Botswana, South Africaand South West Africa (Figs. 10 and 11).Some of them are quite difficult to spot!

Giant euphorbias can also be found in the philately of various African countries(Fig. 12). Commiphoras are harder to find,but here is an example from Djibouti (Fig. 13). Adeniums (Fig. 14) and Adenias

(Fig. 15) can also be found.

Perhaps the most unexpected stamp is onefeaturing a Dendrosicyos, from Yemen (Fig.16). Still other stamps feature things thatlook like fat trees, but remain to beidentified, by me, at least,

This article has only scratched the surfaceof what can be found. I hope that it hassparked your interest to collect a fewstamps featuring succulents. After all,unlike the real thing, the stamps do not dieand take up very little space!

P.S. The forged Aloe tree stamp is theone on the left. It has only five whiteblobs above the right hand side valuetablet. Thee tree branches are differenttoo. There are other more subtledifferences that can be found with agreat deal of study

Fig. 12 A mini sheetissued byMozambique. Thestamp design is aBaobab but the sheetdesign also containsa giant Euphorbia

Fig. 13 Commiphora species Fig 15 - Adenia glauca in flower , fromBotswana

Fig 16 - Dendrosicyos socotranus, itsleaf and flower (which is very difficultto see on the stamp)

Fig 14 - Adenium obesum on a stamp fromMauritania. The stamp also shows a stapeliad

15

One of my favourite plant families is theEuphorbiaceae and I have been lucky enough in

recent years to be able to travel in countries looking forplants that have been home to some very interestingmembers of this family.

I would like to share with you some of my encounterswith these plants and hope that you will find them ofinterest.

First stop is Zimbabwe, I was fortunate to be able tovisit Zimbabwe with two Dutch colleagues in 2015. Wetravelled extensively within the country and wereguided by some members of the Zimbabwe Aloe,Cactus and Succulent Society who took us to somefantastic locations

The first location is a band of serpentine rock about120 kilometres north of the capital, Harare, which runsin a south-west direction and is known as the GreatDyke. The soils found in the Great Dyke are mineralrich, for example they are heavily enriched withchrome. The fact that they are mineral rich can beeasily evidenced in this area as the Chinese are diggingup vast tracts of this land, bagging the material and

shipping it off to China for processing. They are evenstripping up to one metre depth of material from someof the mountain slopes.

One of the remarkable species found here is Euphorbiawildii a spineless plant which can grow up to twometres high, although more normally plants that weencountered were rarely more than one metre high. It isfairly thick stemmed with tuberculate branches whichproduce long inflorescences and leaves at their tips.

This plant is rarely see in cultivation but is now one ofmy firm favourites and I think a truly beautiful plant.

Some interesting Euphorbias – Zimbabweby Bob Potter

Euphorbia wildii at Great Dyke E. wildii inflorescence

E. wildii a smaller plant

16

Some interesting Euphorbias – Zimbabwe continued

Next location is about 50 km south-west of Harare inflat terrain abounding with low shrubby plants andsmall trees.

In this location there are numerous outcrops of largeboulders many showing evidence of early tribal art.Unfortunately these boulders are also being soughtafter by the Chinese and the non-stop sound of theirheavy crushers can be heard as you walk around thisarea. They show scant regard for the priceless art on

these rocks and continueto scoop them up,

crush them andship the

material away.

Here wecame acrossthe verynicegeophytic

Euphorbiatrichadenia v.

gibbsii, a plantthat is not easy

to spot mainlybecause there is

only the thin leaved stems showing above ground.Talinum caffrum also grows in this location and hasremarkably similar stems to the Euphorbia.

At the moment it is fairly abundant but the Chinese arecoming closer so who knows how long these plantswill remain here.

The tubers of the plants we encountered are smallerthan the type species being about 4–5cm in diameterand about 10–12cm long. The tubers are completelyburied with just the stems and leaves showing andtypically these extended about 5cm above the soilsurface. Many were showing flower and fruit whichmade them much easier to spot.

This plant is available from time to time and is wellworth cultivating, usually we raise the tubers above soillevel but I have successfully grown these withcompletely buried tubers and achieved far better topgrowth.

Next time I will talk about plants from an entirelydifferent country.

Photos: Bob Potter

Euphorbia trichadenia v. gibbsii Talinum caffrum showing similarity to E.trichadenia

Flower of E.trichadeniav. gibbsii

Boulders at habitat of E.trichadenia showing rock art

17

The name Mary Emily Eaton may well befamiliar to cactus growers for her superbillustrations for Britton and Rose’s ‘TheCactaceae’ but she seems to have left verylittle biographical information behind her.

She was born in 1873 in Coleford,Gloucestershire, educated privately andstudied art at a number of institutionsincluding what is now the Royal College ofArt. She worked for a while for RoyalWorcester as a porcelain painter producing,it would seem, lavishly decorated itemswhich now sell for considerable sums ofmoney.

In 1909, she travelled to Jamaica to staywith her brother who ran a bananaplantation there and spent her time inpainting the local moths and butterflies.

She moved to New York in 1911, and from1914 was employed by the New YorkBotanical Garden as a staff illustrator. Oneof her principal duties was to illustrate theGarden's journal ‘Addisonia’ which firstappeared in 1916 and was issued quarterlyuntil 1932. Mary Emily Eaton is creditedwith painting approximately three quartersof some 800 hand-painted plates, coveringmany plant subjects including some cactiand succulents.

Mary Emily Eaton also worked for theAmerican National Geographical Society,contributing paintings of wild flowers to‘Our State Flowers’ the 1917 issue of theSociety’s magazine and ‘The Book of WildFlowers’ published by the Society in 1924.She also paintedbirds, insects andbutterflies for theAmerican Museumof Natural Historyand illustrated the‘Field Book ofCommon GilledMushrooms’ byWilliam Sturgispublished in 1928.

But it is of course asthe principalillustrator of ‘TheCactaceae’ that sheis best known.

The New YorkBotanical Gardenwas founded in 1891and Nathaniel LordBritton was one ofits co-founders andits first director.Work on ‘The

Mary Emily Eatonby Sheila Cude

Mary Emily Eaton isparticularly renowned forher paintings of Opuntia.

18

Cactaceae’, with Joseph Nelson Rose, aplant curator at the Smithsonian, began asearly as 1904 and it was published in fourvolumes between 1919 and 1923.

For this monumental work Mary EmilyEaton was responsible for most of thecolour plates in all four volumes, producingsome 383 full colour paintings of cactitogether with over 300 black and white linedrawings. She painted in watercolour andworked very quickly, apparently she could

Mary Emily Eaton continued

complete a painting in asingle morning. Many ofthe colour plates used in‘The Cactaceae’ consist ofa number of individualpaintings, and in somecases it is easily possibleto see the joins. Herpaintings are well knownfor their quality andbotanical accuracy and itwould seem that thecolour plates do not dojustice to the originals.

Her work was exhibited atthe Royal HorticulturalSociety in 1922 and 1950where she won silver andthen gold Grenfell medals.

Her work has also been shown on anumber of occasions in the USA includingan exhibition at the New York BotanicalGarden in 1932.

However in 1932 Mary Emily Eaton lost herposition at the New York Botanical Gardendue no doubt to cutbacks resulting fromthe Great Depression. It seems that shestruggled to find alternative work in NewYork and returned to England in 1947,where she lived until her death in 1961.

Two magnificentHylocereus flowers

Images of plates forthis article fromPlantillustrations.org

19

Where does one look to find the oldest living things onEarth? In the Animal Kingdom the creatures that livelongest might be turtles that live for about 200 years. Inthe Plant Kingdom some cacti such as Carnegiagigantea and Stenocereus thurberi are extremely slowgrowing and may take a couple of hundred years toreach the gigantic proportions of those we see in theS.W. United States and Mexico.

The oldest succulent in captivity is reported to be aspecimen of Fockea capensis, collected in 1798 andstill alive at the Schönbrunn Palace in Austria in thelate 1990s.

Cacti and other succulents are short-lived whencompared with some members of the conifer group.Welwitschia mirabilis of Namibia is cone-bearing andmay be related to the conifers. It is reported to live inexcess of 2,000 years – a single pair of leaves growingcontinuously for all that time. The tree that most peopleassociate with longevity is the giant redwood,Sequoiadendron giganteum of California. These hugetrees have been reported to live more than 3,000 years.Specimens of the bristlecone pine, Pinus aristata, ofthe western United States have been recorded asbeing more than 5,000 years old.

These were thought to be the oldest living things untilquite recently. However, a plant that shares the desert

regions of the SW United States and Mexico with thecacti is the Creosote Bush, Larrea tridentata. This isperhaps the most widespread shrub in desert areasand it has been shown that specimens can live forcenturies. In fact a plant from the Morongo Basin onthe edge of the Mojave Desert in California has beendated at 11,400 years old. It is astonishing to think thatthis plant started its life at the end of the last Ice Age.Larrea tridentata is not a succulent plant but axerophytic shrub. It only puts on leaves when there issome moisture to support them and in extremeconditions it can die back to its roots. The roots spreadunderground and, when conditions are again suitable,new shoots appear a short distance from those thathad previously dried back. In this way the plantspreads outwards in rings and it is the old, but stillliving, roots near the centre of the ring that have beenshown to live to such a remarkable age.

More recently the creosote bush circle known as ‘KingClone’ pictured above has been dated at 11,700 yearsof age by a team led by Frank Vasek, a professor at theUniversity of California, Riverside. Two methods wereused to date the age of the ring; one used annualgrowth rings and the other used carbon-dating onwood from old roots at the centre of the ellipse. Bothof the dating methods gave identical results. It is in theCreosote Rings Preserve of the central Mojave Desert.

The Creosote bush –the longest living lifeform on Earth?by Peter Clayton

20

Day trips for conophytums(and a multitude of other succulents)by Chris Rodgerson

So many people write about the plantsand where they grow, but I have never

seen anything written about the actualprocess of plant hunting in South Africa.

If I had to recommend just one place inSouth Africa to stay during a succulentplants holiday it would have to be myfavourite base, Springbok. It is a bustlingsmall town with supermarkets, many shopsand restaurants and a few garages for

petrol and the inevitable puncturerepairs. Accommodations are

numerous from basic to four-star, all bookable online

these days and, at 300miles or so north fromCape Town, it is asteady day’s drivestraight up the N7,one good road all theway. Just do notchoose THE

Springbok Hotel andmaybe take a look at my

Trip Advisor review todiscover why!

Of course there is much to see on the waythere. Many succulents can be seen alongthe route within a few minutes of the mainhighway. There are other nice towns to visitand stay at such as Vredendal, VanRhynsdorp and Clanwilliam. But forscenery, general succulents and especiallya Conophytum trip then Springbok is theplace to be. I gave it the name‘Conophytum Central’ many years ago asthere are more species within day-tripdistance from here in every direction thananywhere else and all accessible with anormal car, although something morerobust would provide even more options.All the main roads are tarred and in goodcondition but the side roads are gravel,although you soon get the hang of drivingon them. At the time of writing, with currentexchange rates giving around 18 Rand(ZAR) to one pound sterling, it is a cheapplace to visit and great value for money.

As you drive around exploring main roadsand side roads, at this point I should warnagainst climbing fences. It is far better toseek permission so you feel relaxed looking

Fig. 3 The plants arevery cryptic of courseso look very carefullyand close to seethem

Fig. 2 A grit pan on a granite dome by the roadside East of Springbok

21

Day trips for conophytums continued

around and not trespassing on private land.Farm entrances are usually gated andnamed and if unlocked, (be sure to close allgates behind you), drive to the farmhouseto introduce yourself and explain what youare looking for. The people are invariablyfriendly and happy to oblige, often offeringrefreshments and wanting to chat and learnmore about you. Politics and sport, usuallyrugby and cricket, are popular conversationsubjects! If there is no answer and theplace looks deserted then drive away. Butif occupied then they are usually only toopleased to help and may even show youthe plants if they are aware of what theyhave – some are very familiar with whatgrows on their land, others not so. If theydo not speak good English – often theyclaim not to but actually do, but use it soinfrequently – then showing your cameraalong with hand gestures explaining yourwishes usually does the trick. Even whenthe (usually) white owners are absent thereare often coloured workers who will let youwalk on the land. It is normal practice inSouth Africa to talk of white, black andcoloured people.

By staying in Springbok there aresucculents on your doorstep. More or lessdominating the skyline is a large quartz hillwhich forms part of a continuous ridge thatstretches for many kilometres. Park yourcar among the residential back streets atthe bottom and it is an easy, if steep, walkto the top, where grow two differentconophytums, C. bilobum and C.violaciforme. Adromischus alstonii alsogrows here along with numerous crassulas.The front cover photo (Fig. 1) is ofConophytum violaciforme in flower during

early May and shows how close the centreof town is in the background.

In addition to the quartzite, Springbok ismore or less surrounded by brown graniteor gneiss which forms rounded ‘domes’,some huge and steep, other smaller andonly slightly convex. On one small domejust to the east of town, literally by theroadside heading towards Pofadder on theN14, are grit pans containing the‘pardicolor’ form of Conophytumpellucidum.

Continue east from Springbok along theN14 to Pofadder and in less than an houryou will be seeing well-known farm namesyou probably know from plant labels.Quartzite dominates the area and it is onthe border of winter and summer rainfall sothe plants are usually in excellent conditionas they can get rain at any time. Arebappears first where there is a richness ofdifferent succulents which has to be seento be believed. It is veryaccessible, easy walkingand Lithops marmoratais plentiful, along withConophytummarginatum, C. calculus subsp.vanzylii and C. hermarium. Agreat place tospend a full dayand within an houror so from yourSpringbok hotel.Continuing west thenext farms areSmorgenskadu andKangnas, both worth visiting if

Fig. 6 Conophytumpellucidum var.terricolor in a grit pan

to the South ofSpringbok

Fig. 4 Lithops marmorata at Areb in Bushmanland Fig. 5 Conophytum marginatum with Crassula sericea at Areb

22

Day trips for conophytums continued

the gates are unlocked and the ownersare at home.

Further out east towards Pofadder andPella, by making an even earlier morningstart, we have been as far asDabenorisberg as a day trip fromSpringbok. It was a long and tiring day,some 300km+ round trip but we had fourhours on the mountain and got to see Aloedabenorisana and other rare succulents.This story can be seen on the BCSS Forum.

Retrace your route to Springbok, backsouth down the N7 and the side roads areall well worth exploring. They lead to farmson which the domes have pans andfissures with Conophytum pellucidum var.terricolor, C. roodiae and C. pageae andmany other succulents. They are veryparticular about the depth of grit and thepan has to be level, meaning they do notgrow in every pan so you may have to lookat quite a few.

Drivingwest out of Springbok on the R355Kleinzee road – maybe 40 minutes or so –takes you to the famous Spektakel Passwhich is as impressive as the nameimplies. Drive further to the town ofKomaggas and explore communal landwhere no permission is needed to walk. If there are no fences you may assume it is OK to hike the hillsides to findConophytum auriflorum, C. meyeri, C. bilobum, C. velutinum, C. stevens-jonesianum and C. frutescens which are allquite common in the area and, as usual, inthe company of many other succulents.Look for rocky and stony areas as well asquartz outcrops and cover all aspects,sunny and shady. Some succulents preferthe shade of bushes or low shrubs so lookinside and underneath them for Gasteriapillansii and stapelias for example, and onthe shady side of hills for mitrophyllums,crassulas, pelargoniums and tylecodons.

For a day north from Springbok, EddyHarris recently did an article here aboutUmdaus and the succulent diversity there.Breakfast in your Springbok hotel at7.30am, leave at 8.00am and you can be atUmdaus looking at Pachypodiumnamaquanum by 10.00am. Wander hereand there, up hills and across flat quartzplains – it is a vast area, completelydeserted and accessible – a paradise forsucculent lovers. There are no signposts to

Fig. 7 Conophytumroodiae under agranite fissuredoverhang on a farmSouth of SpringbokInset: Close up of C. roodiae

Fig. 8 Gasteriapillansii in the shadeof bushes on ahillside in theKomaggas vicinity

23

Day trips for conophytums continued

or at Umdaus as no one really knowsexactly where it is! So as a first time visitorto the general area you will need directionsor even better, GPS. There is so much tosee and so far to walk. I have explored thisarea on more than 20 day trips andcontinue to return for more.

There are many more day trips I coulddescribe but hopefully this provides a fewexamples of what can be achieved. Whoneeds camping in the wilderness when youcan see so much from the comfort of anice Springbok hotel?

Photos: Chris Rodgerson unless indicatedotherwise

These are the succulents which canbe seen in just a couple of hours onthe Springbok kop

Adromischus alstoniiAloe melanacanthaConophytum bilobumConophytum violaciflorumCotyledon orbiculata var. orbiculataCrassula atropurpurea var. watermeyeriCrassula cotyledonisCrassula muscosaCrassula namaquensisCrassula tomentosaEuphorbia mauritanicaPelargonium crithmifoliumPelargonium echinatumPelargonium oblongatumPelargonium rapaceumOthonna euphorbioidesOthonna retrofractaSenecio junceusTylecodon paniculatusTylecodon wallichii subsp. ecklonianusVarious shrubby Mesembs

Fig. 9 The quartzvlakte to the North ofUmdaus

Fig. 10 On anUmdaus hilltopwhere, among manyother plants, raritiessuch as Avoniaquinaria subsp.alstonii andConophytumarmianum grow inthe quartz gravelPhoto: © A J Young

24

Day trips for conophytums continued

Section BILOBAC. bilobum subsp. bilobum

var. bilobumvar. elishaevar. linearlucidumvar. muscosipapillatum

C. bilobum subsp. altumC. bilobum subsp. claviferensC. frutescensC. meyeriC. velutinum subsp. velutinumC. velutinum subsp. polyandrum

Section HERREANTHUSC. blandumC. herreanthus subsp. rexC. marginatum subsp. marginatumC. marginatum subsp. haramoepenseC. marginatum subsp. littlewoodiiC. regale

Section WETTSTEINIAC. bachelorumC. bolusiae subsp. bolusiaeC. chrisocruxumC. chrisolumC. flavum subsp. flavumC. flavum subsp. noviciumC. francoiseaeC. fraternum C. jucundum

C. jucundum subsp. marlothiiC. obscurum subsp. obscurumC. obscurum subsp. barbatumC. obscurum subsp. sponsaliorumC. schlechteriC. wettsteinii

Section MINUSCULAC. antoniiC. auriflorum subsp. auriflorumC. auriflorum subsp. turbiniformeC. ectypum subsp. ectypumC. ectypum subsp. browniiC. ectypum subsp. cruciatumC. ectypum subsp. ignavumC. ectypum subsp. sulcatumC. irmaeC. longibracteatumC. mirabileC. smaleorumC. tantillum subsp. tantillumC. tantillum subsp. amicorumC. tantillum subsp. eenkokerenseC. tantillum subsp. heleniaeC. tantillum subsp. inexpectatumC. tantillum subsp. lindenianumC. violaciflorum

Section VERRUCOSAC. hermarium

C. smorenskaduenseC. vanheerdei

Section CYLINDRATAC. roodiae subsp. roodiaeC. roodiae subsp. corrugatumC. roodiae subsp. cylindratum

Section PELLUCIDAC. lithopsoides subsp. lithopsoidesC. pellucidum subsp. pellucidum

var. pellucidumvar. neohallivar. terricolor

Section OPHTHALMOPHYLLUMC. devium subsp. deviumC. devium subsp. stiriiferum

C. limpidumC. longumC. lydiaeC. pubescens

Section CHESHIRE-FELESC. hammeriC. maughanii subsp. maughaniiC. maughanii subsp. armeniacumC. maughanii subsp. latumC. achabenseC. burgeri C. ratum

Section CATAPHRACTAC. breveC.pageae

C. calculus subsp. vanzyliiC. stevens-jonesianum

Section SAXETANAC. hians

Section COSTATAC. angelicae subsp. angelicae

Section BARBATAC. depressum subsp. depressumC. depressum subsp. perduransC. pubicalyxC. stephanii subsp. stephaniiC. stephanii subsp. helmutii

Section BATRACHIAC. armianum

C. ectypum brownii and a hybrid

C auriflorum

C. flavum tetracarpum

This is a list of Conophytums which it is possible to see on a day out from Springbok. Some would mean a longday trip but it can be done, although the more westerly species would be easier as a day out from Port Nolloth

C.blandum