BCSS - Forum

This has baffled me for a while ........ are Delosperma technically succulents or alpines?

I am sure a plant can be both. And I guess Delosperma will be both.

Succulent for sure. Some are from alpine climates, others not.

A succulent is a plant that has modified leaves or stems in order to store water when rainfall is unreliable; so it a growth form. Alpine plants in theory grow at high altitudes in areas that receive a lot of cold weather, although plants which grow in the Alps themselves can grow at sea level near to the Arctic Circle; so this is a habitat preference. Therefore as Ian points out, a plant can be both because they are not mutually exclusive. Many succulents grow under alpine conditions, e.g. Rebutia in the Andes, Pediocactus in the SW of the USA, Sempervivum in Europe and mesembs such as some Delosperma on the Roggeveld and Drakensberg in South Africa. There are many non-succulent plants growing close to these succulents that members of the Alpine Garden Society enthuse over.

I am giving a talk on cultivation to your BCSS Branch in September, Purpletaz. Come along and quiz me for more information.

Although most Delospermas won't make it onto the alpine show bench, D. sphalmanthoides definitely does. However, it has been renamed Daggodora sphalmanthoides so perhaps not relevant.

Ian's D. sphalmanthoides is an excellent example of a species that is an alpine succulent. It very obviously has succulent leaves and it originates from the top of the Komsberg Pass on the Roggeveld escarpment in South Africa. This locality is at about 1700m elevation and the night-time temperature there has been recorded as low as -15C. I have probably propagated and sold more of this species than any of my conos. One problem is that people do not give it enough water (year-round is needed) and it dries up. It might benefit from being in cooler conditions than the average succulent greenhouse during the summer months.

Lovely plant iann.

Hi Terry. Do you have any images of it habitat?

Mike, this is an old photo taken at the top of the Komsberg Pass and you can see small plant clusters growing in shallow pockets in the dolerite rocks. These are the Delosperma which had finished flowering a week or so before our visit in September.

Thanks Terry.