Portulacaria armiana Van Jaarsv.

Species

Angiosperms > Caryophyllales > Didiereaceae > Portulacaria

Characteristics

Plant a rounded evergreen succulent shrub 500-700 mm tall when not in flower and 700 mm-1 m wide. Branches short, terete and thick, up to 35 mm in diameter, bearing conspicuous leaf scars; older branches woody, yellow-brown with bark peeling characteristically in horizontal papery flakes; flakes tough and slightly translucent; young branches softly succulent and grey-green, 9-12 mm in diam.; internodes 10-30 mm apart. Leaves fleshy, decussate, glaucous, obovate-ovate, 30-70 mm x 30-55 mm, base cuneate, apex rounded, margin slightly wavy; petiole short, 2-5 mm long. Flowering branch terminal, erect, 3-5 m long, sparingly branched, herbaceous and snapping when bent; bracts leaf-like but smaller, 30 x 14 mm, often mucronate and soon deciduous; internodes 2-10 mm apart. Inflorescences borne laterally from the axils, 50-100 mm long. Flowers in dense fascicles (up to 10): pedicels 1.5 mm; sepals 2, broadly ovate and acute, 5 mm long; receptacle conical, 1 mm wide; petals 5, 2.5-3 mm long, oblong and white, free to the base, hooded and obtuse at the apex; stamens 0.75-1 mm long, often aborted, (adnate to the) petals: pistil flask-shaped, 2 mm long, style branches 3, spreading; ovary obscurely 3-angled, approximately 1 mm in length.
More
Rounded, evergreen, succulent shrub, 500-700 mm tall in vegetative state, but erect flowering branches up to 3-5 m tall. Leaves in pairs, 4-ranked, obovate-ovate, 30-70 x 30-55 mm, fleshy. Flowers in dense, axillary fascicles, small, white.
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Growth form shrub
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention evergreen
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Mature height (meter) 0.5 - 0.7
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Environment

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Soil texture 7-8
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Hardiness (USDA) 9-12

Usage

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Cultivation

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Distribution

Portulacaria armiana world distribution map, present in Namibia and South Africa

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:905012-1
WFO ID wfo-0000799102
COL ID 6VVM2
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN) Link
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Portulacaria armiana