HOME GARDENS GREENHOUSE COLLECTION GALLERIES LINKS E-BAY STORE CONTACT DONATIONS PHOTO CD
Senecio stapeliformis
"Candle Plant"


A Senecio stapeliformis flowering in my garden

     From the Cape Province of South Africa, Senecio stapeliformis is an interestingly marked blue green stem succulent with tiny vestigial leaves. Grown well the stems can be as much as an inch in diameter and several feet tall. The variety minima has thinner stems and has the tendancy to sprawl as it grows so it might make a good hanging plant. The tiny reddish orange flowers appear in spring on an inch wide inflorescense at the tip of the stems.
     I didn't realize that this plant sprawls naturally untill I saw some planted at the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix. It was literally crawling across the ground. I have both varieties of this. The first picture is a nice one of the normal variety I picked up at Tanque Verde Nursery. The center pic is variety minima and the third a big potfull at Tanque Verde with inch thick stems.

A nice
normal clump

Variety
minima

A fat one
at Tanque Verde

A closeup of the
patterned stem

All images and text are copyright 2006 D.S. Franges, unless otherwise noted.