''Pachypodium succulentum'' is a member of the family

Apocynaceae Apocynaceae (from ''Apocynum'', Greek for "dog-away") is a family of flowering plants that includes trees, shrubs, herbs, stem succulents, and vines, commonly known as the dogbane family, because some taxa were used as dog poison Members of ...

native to the

Cape Provinces The Cape Provinces of South Africa is a biogeographical area used in the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD). It is part of the WGSRPD region 27 Southern Africa. The area has the code "CPP". It includes the Sout ...

and the Free State province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

Pachypodium succulentum Succulents exhibition in Botanical Garden of Charles University 2016

Description

True to its name, ''P. succulentum'' is characterised by its sturdy water-holding swallowed-stem base. Thin, near-straight shoots grow from this base to a height of around 1.6 feet and are covered in 0.8 inch thorns that come in pairs. Leaves are found on the upper parts of the shoots and are narrow, dark green,

lanceolate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular ...

and feature

venation Venation may refer to: * Venation (botany), the arrangement of veins in leaves * Wing venation, the arrangement of veins in insect wings See also * * Vernation Vernation (from ''vernal'' meaning ''spring'', since that is when leaves spring fort ...

. Flowers are pink or white.

References

*The Complete Encyclopedia of Succulents by Zdenek Jezek and Libor Kunte succulentum Flora of the Cape Provinces Flora of the Free State {{Apocynaceae-stub