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Caudiciform Plants

Articles: Caudiciform Plants

Hottentot bread (Fockea edulis). Photo: E. Bihrmann

Caudiciform plants form a caudex—a fat, swollen stem, trunk, or aboveground roots. Plants in this category sport colorful names like elephant’s foot, Buddha belly, pregnant onion, and turtle back. Caudiciform plants number in the hundreds, and almost as many gardening clubs are devoted to their unusual architectural forms.

Queensland bottle tree (Brachychiton rupestris). Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The diversity of form may surprise the casual caudex fan. Besides the many bonsai and houseplant selections, many of which are succulents, caudiciforms are represented among trees, vines, and even a few grasses and bulbs. Although many caudiciform genera are uncommon, you’ll find caudex selections in such familiar genera as Euphorbia, Aloe, Cissus, Agapetes, and Cussonia. Most commercially grown caudiciforms hail from desert regions of Africa or Mexico. Their distinctive structure is a survival mechanism; the fat stems store water when it is plentiful for the plant to use over the long dry...

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Voices of the West; New Science on Life in the Garden by Frederique Lavoipierre

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