Plant in full sun or bright shade. It is very dry growing, even in a container and cold tolerant to at least the low 20s° F. This plant makes a very showy container plant, especially once the tuberous roots develop. Grow with tuberous roots in soil to develop size, then lift plant and replant with roots exposed. Keep twiggy stems trimmed for the best look.

Mestoklema tuberosum has a distribution that stretches from south of Namibia to the Little Karoo and Eastern Cape Province in South Africa. The name for the genus comes from the Greek words 'mestos' meaning "full" and 'klema' meaning "a small branch" in reference to both this plants twiggy growth and full water-storing roots and the specific epithet is from the Latin word 'tuberum' meaning a "tuber" or "bump" in reference to the fat tuberous roots of the species. I has commonly been called "Donkey Fig" or "Desert Potato" for these swollen tubers.

There are differing opinions on whether the plants generally found in cultivation are Mestoklema tuberosum or Mestoklema arboriforme or if they are even different species. Both are described with yellow to orange flowers and the description of these two in Jacobsen is vague enough that it could be either. On the Grigsby Cactus Garden web site it was noted that Mestoklema arboriforme is distinguished by its reddish bark on a swollen caudex, such as plants in cultivation have. Aizoaceae guru Steven A Hammer (co-author of Mesmbs of the World) however tells us that the nomenclature of the group is a mess and that he believes the two name synonymous with Mestoklema tuberosum being the older and therefore the valid name. We note that this is in contradiction to the late Heidi Hartmann's treatment of the genus in The Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants: Aizoaceae F-Z (2001).

We received our plants from the collection of Alice Waidhofer with tags having both names, but following Steven Hammer's suggestion we listed it as Mestoklema tuberosum when we sold it from 2003 until 2023. 

The information displayed on this page about Mestoklema tuberosum is based on our research conducted about this plant from books in our nursery library as well as from information that is provided by reliable online resources. We also have included our own observations made about it as it grew in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers when we had them in our nursery field. We also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.