Tylecodon paniculatus

Tylecodon paniculatus, also known as butter bush, butter tree, butterboom or rooisuikerblom (Afrikaans), is a species of succulent plant in the genus Tylecodon belonging to the family Crassulaceae.[1]

Tylecodon paniculatus
Tylecodon paniculatus in Rooiberg Nature Reserve, South Africa.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Saxifragales
Family: Crassulaceae
Genus: Tylecodon
Species:
T. paniculatus
Binomial name
Tylecodon paniculatus
(L.f.) Toelken (1978)
Synonyms
  • Cotyledon paniculata L.f.

Etymology

The genus name is a syllabic anagram of the former name Cotyledon, created by Helmut Toelken who split a few species off into a genus of their own.[2]

The species Latin epithet refers to the shape of inflorescence — branched terminal panicles.

The common names refer to soft, fleshy and brittle stems. For centuries children have used the soft, slippery stems as sleds.[3]

Description

Tylecodon paniculatus is a thickset, robust succulent dwarf tree up to 2.5–3 m tall, with very fat stems with usually well branched rounded crown. The single main trunk and branches are covered with mustard-yellow to olive-green bark peeling in papery semi-translucent sheets. Branches are short, with prominent leaf scars. Leaves are clustered and spirally arranged around the apex of the growing tips simple during the wintertime; they are paddle-shaped, 5–12 cm long and 2–10 cm wide, thickly succulent, bright yellowish-green; apex is broadly tapering to rounded, base is tapering without petiole. The plant is deciduous. Inflorescences are spectacular slender, ascending thyrses to 40 cm, with bright crimson-red stalks. Flowers have five joined sepals and five joined petals, forming an orange-yellow to red urn-shaped tube 1.5–2.5 cm long with spreading lobes. Ten stamens are pendulous at first, then upright as the petal-tube dries.[4][5]

Hybridises with Tylecodon wallichii.[6]

Habitat

Rocky slopes in Succulent Karoo.

Distribution

The species grows in the arid, winter rain-fall regions from Namibia to the southwestern South Africa.

Toxicity

The plant contains bufadienolide-type cardiac glycoside cotyledoside which causes cotyledonosis or nenta poisoning ("krimpsiekte") in sheep and goats.[7]

Subspecies
  • Tylecodon paniculatus subsp. paniculatus — southwestern Namibia through to Cape Province.
  • Tylecodon paniculatus subsp. glaucus van Jaarsv. — Namibia.[1]

References
  1. "Tylecodon paniculatus (L.f.) Toelken". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  2. Tölken, H. (15 December 1978). "New taxa and new combinations in Cotyledon and allied genera". Bothalia. 12 (3): 377–393. doi:10.4102/abc.v12i3.1794.
  3. Coates Palgrave, Keith (2002). Trees of southern Africa (3rd, New / rev. and updated by Meg Coates Palgrave ed.). Cape Town: Struik Publishers. p. 239. ISBN 1868723895.
  4. Eggli, Urs (2003). Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants: Crassulaceae. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 359. ISBN 978-3-642-55874-0.
  5. F. Smith, Gideon; R Crouch, Neil; Figueiredo, Estrela (2017). Field Guide to Succulents of Southern Africa. Penguin Random House South Africa. p. 317. ISBN 9781775843672.
  6. Manning, John C.. (2013). Field guide to wild flowers of South Africa. Cape Town: Random House Struik. p. 236. ISBN 9781920544874.
  7. Kellerman, T. S.; Coetzer, J. A. W.; Naudé, T. W.; Botha, C. J. (2005). Plant poisonings and mycotoxicoses of livestock in southern Africa (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 116–146. ISBN 978-0195761344.


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