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Dudleya pachyphytum

Dudleya is a genus in the Stonecrop Family (Crassulaceae), with the great majority of the species found along the Pacific coast in California and Baja California. Quite a few species have leaves coated with white powder, but none has quite as cartoonishly chubby as this one, which comes from Cedros Island, off the coast of Baja California. Its flowers, with white petals and greenish sepals, are also distinctive.

Agave weberi

This large-growing Agave, with its towering inflorescence, is originally from northeastern Mexico, and it is widely grown in the Rio Grande Valley in southern Texas. It bears some resemblance to Agave americana, the common Century Plant, but it has much smaller teeth, or sometimes none at all. Our 2 flowering plants have stalks so tall that they have become entangled in the Torrey pine above them. The greenish-yellow flowers are hard to see without a tall ladder, but in the lower photo you can see what they look like up close.

Portulaca eruca

This small Portulaca comes from northern Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay, and we are pleased to have it growing in our crevice garden. The name "eruca" means caterpillar, and our plant's branches do resemble fuzzy caterpillars. The magenta flower color is often seen in plants in this family (and in the related Montiaceae), and it really makes our little plant stand out!

Cycas panzhihuaensis

The Chinese cycads are not as well-known or as widely grown as Cycas revoluta, the Sago Palm (which comes from Japan). Cycas panzhihuaensis is native to Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces, and it was not officially named until 1979. Our plant is a female, as shown by the rounded cone (male ones are more elongated).

Verbascum rupicola

This dwarf Verbascum species is an endangered plant from Turkey, and it is doing quite nicely in our new crevice garden. The flowers are small, but charming nevertheless. The genus Verbascum, commonly called Mullein, is in the family Scrophulariaceae.

Soehrensia tarijensis

This wonderful columnar cactus comes from southern Bolivia and northwestern Argentina, and it has wowed everybody this year with its flowering spectacle - more flowers at one time than it has ever had before. Like so many other cacti, it has been bounced from genus to genus (Helianthocereus, Trichocereus, Echinopsis and even Lobivia), but it has now found a home in an expanded concept of the genus Soehrensia.

Plectranthus argentatus

Plectranthus is a large genus in the Mint Family (Lamiaceae), and this is a species native to eastern Australia. I have heard that it has been transferred to the related genus Coleus, but I have not read up on the reasoning behind this. In any case, it is a great plant for dry shade, with its leaves covered with silvery hairs that make them gleam. The flowers are quite small and certainly not showy, but they are attractive when seen up close.

Pelargonium schizopetalum

Pelargoniums are quite widespread in southern Africa, occurring in both summer-rainfall and winter-rainfall areas. This one is from a summer-rainfall region in South Africa's Eastern Cape Province, and it is dormant and leafless during the winter months. In spring it re-sprouts from its large swollen root, producing its hairy leaves and its unique flowers (schizopetalum means split petals, and it certainly lives up to its name).

Mammillaria longimamma

This species of Mammillaria stands out for its extra-long finger-like tubercles (for which it was named), as well as its large showy yellow flowers. It was formerly placed in the small genus Dolichothele, but this genus is now included in Mammillaria. From the state of Hidalgo in east-central Mexico.

Turbinicarpus schmiedickeanus subsp. klinkerianus

This is another wonderful little turbinicarpus, with a name considerably longer than the plant itself. Like T. lophophoroides, it is from San Luis Potosi.

Turbinicarpus lophophoroides

Turbinicarpus is a genus of miniature Mexican cacti, mostly found in the northeastern part of the country. They are usually quite localized and not easy to find, but a delight when you come across them. especially if they are in flower (which of course makes them easier to spot). This one is T. lophophoroides, from northern San Luis Potosi.

Gasteria bicolor

This Gasteria species comes from the Eastern Cape Province, in the southern part of South Africa. It is a smooth-leaved species, usually with attractive spotting and leaves that spiral upward, and its flowers are pinker than most Gasteria species, but with green-and-white striped mouths.

Agave palmeri

This Agave species is not uncommon in southern Arizona, and it also occurs to the south in northwestern Mexico. It is usually larger than our specimen, and the small size of our plant makes it hard to tell apart from Agave flexispina, a related smaller species from Chihuahua and Durango. Both of these have pale green flowers with purple filaments and styles, as can be seen in the flower close-up.

Gasteria croucheri

Gasterias are relatives of the aloes, in the family Asphodelaceae, and they occur in a band across southern Africa. This is one of the eastern species, being found in South Africa's Eastern Cape Province and northward into KwaZulu-Natal. It has very thick chunky leaves and pale coral dangling flowers with greenish-yellow tips. Though it does not get cold in its home range, it can endure short-duration spells below freezing in winter, as it has done many times here at the Ruth Bancroft Garden.

Aloe lavranosii × shadensis

This Aloe is a hybrid of two uncommon species from the Arabian Peninsula: Aloe lavranosii, from Yemen, and Aloe shadensis, from Saudi Arabia. The leaves look much like those of A. lavranosii, but that species has long hairs on its flowers, a trait that did not come out in the offspring. One of the advantages of having A. shadensis in its parentage is that the flowering lasts for a long time - and it must be admitted that the long red-orange flowers are very attractive! This hybrid was made by Walker Young, the Garden Director and Assistant Curator at the Ruth Bancroft Garden.

Agave parrasana

Agave parrasana is one of the few Agave species with a 2-phase flowering process. The first stage begins in the summer of the first year, with the flower stalk emerging and rising up like a large club, with thick protective bracts covering the tip. It stops growing in late summer to early autumn, with the bracts serving to protect the embryonic flowers through the cold of winter. The second stage begins in the spring of the following year, when the plant decides it has warmed up enough to go ahead and flower. The floral branches emerge and elongate, and then the flowers come along. The upper photo shows the plant in flower; the middle one shows a flower close-up; and the lower one shows 2 plants - the one at lower left in the first stage, and the one at upper right in the second stage. From the state of Coahuila in northern Mexico.

Gasteria glauca

Like almost all the Gasteria species, this one is from South Africa, where it has a very small area of occurrence on the Kouga River, on the western side of Eastern Cape Province. It is one of the dwarf species, forming a cluster of heads over time. The coral-red comma-shaped flowers are not unlike those of various other Gasteria species.