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 |
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