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Trichodiadema bulbosum (African Bonsai) - This slow growing succulent plant is naturally a shrubby low growing groundcover with a tuberous base barely exposed and with stems rising 6 to 12 inches and spreading to several feet with small 1/4- to 1/2-inch-long succulent gray-green leaves tipped with tufty bristles of soft white hairs. In cultivation this plant is usually elevated 4 to 8 inches to display its much branched swollen tuberous (napiform) roots and as such is often treated as a caudiciform succulent. From spring to late summer and sometimes on through fall appear the small flowers with bright violet-pink petals surrounding yellow-green stamens. Flowers open fully when grown in bright light or full sun.
Plant in a well-drained soil where it tolerates heat and full sun but looks best in part sun in hotter inland locations. Water occasionally to very little in spring and summer - with its tuberous roots can be forgiving of infrequent missed waterings, even when growing in a container. It is cold hardy to around 25°F or lower for short durations but prolonged subfreezing temperatures are liable to damage caudex if exposed. A very interesting succulent that is often seen in cactus and succulent shows. Grow plants for a few years with roots buried and then elevate the caudex and place in a nice bonsai container or ornamental pot to display the interesting roots. Trim off top growth only to keep growth tighter so it does not hide the caudex.
Trichodiadema bulbosum is listed as coming from hilly locations of the Eastern Cape Province and around Port Elizabeth in South Africa, though Heidi Hartmann in her treatment of it in the Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants: Aizoaceae had the distribution as "uncertain". It was described by the German botanist Martin Heinrich Gustav Schwantes in 1926. The genus name comes from Greek 'trix' meaning "hair" and 'diadema' meaning "crown" in reference to the bristle hairs that top each leaf, and the specific epithet is in reference to the swollen roots.
Information displayed on this page about Trichodiadema bulbosum is based on our research conducted about this plant in our nursery library as well as from information provided by reliable online resources. We also include our own observations made about it as it has grown in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers in our nursery field. We will 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.
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