![]() ![]() You should choose a place for these succulents that receives bright, indirect sunlight. ![]() Huernia plants demand proper lighting to grow well. As soon as you enter the fall and winter season, you can stop spraying the plants with fertilizers as they are going to be dormant anyway. Make sure to fertilize the plant once every month using a light fertilizer. The growing summer months demand some fertilization. During winters, the plant goes into dormancy and you can get by easily by watering it just once a month. In the summer season, water the plant only when the top layer of the soil looks crusty and dry. Huernia does not like to be too wet and hence, you need to water it sporadically. Watering the succulent just right is the key to its growth. A cactus potting mix works well for Huernia because it supports good drainage and keeps the succulent healthy and happy. Unglazed pots work well because they do not keep the moisture trapped. You need to go for soil and pot that have good drainage if you are looking to nurture Huernia at home. It is a creeper that is easy to grow and as long as you take care of the basics, it will thrive. Don’t let its stunning beauty deceive you into thinking that it is a high-maintenance plant. Species epithet 'gigantea' means 'gigantic', a reference to the large flowers of the plant.The Huernia or the lifesaver cactus, as it is commonly called is a beautiful succulent you need to get home. Genus epithet 'Staphelia' named by father of modern taxonomy Linnaeus in honour of Dutch botanist and physician Johannes Bodaeus van Stapel (1602-1636), who discovered a related species in South Africa. Propagate by seeds or stem cuttings (let callus form before planting in well-drained media). Stems tend to rot in waterlogged and moist conditions, can be saved if rotten parts are cut off, and healthy sections allowed to callus for 2-3 weeks before planting. Water plant only when soil is thoroughly dry. Prefers well-drained, loose loamy to sandy-rocky soils. Latest accepted family name is Apocynaceae.ĭry forests and open bushland or savannah areas, establishing under light shade of trees or on flat ground with broken grass cover. Note: Previously placed in Asclepiadaceae family. Scented like rotten animal carcass, attract pollinator carrion-flies and bluebottles, which are sometimes fooled into laying eggs amongst the hairs of the flower.Įxplosive seedpods (follicles), produced in pairs and united at base, resembling goat's horns, containing small flat, tufted seeds that are dispersed by wind. Texture leathery, edged with profuse hairs along margins. Individual open flowers 20-40cm across, star-shaped, very showy, cream-coloured with crimson to brownish transverse lines and deep red central disk. This species produces the largest flowers of all existing succulents in the world. Stems start branching near base of plant to form clumps, rooting whenever they touch the ground. Stems serve as water storage and photosynthetic tissue for plant, green when plant is supplied with sufficient water, turn reddish or brown during drought-stress. Reduced to very small (0.5mm), dry papery remnants at tips of stem tubercles, no longer photosynthetic.įinger-like, fleshy, 4-sided, spineless but ridged with 'teeth' (tubercles), texture somewhat velvety. Cactus-like succulent shrub with shallow root systen, up to 0.3m tall and 1m wide under ideal conditions. ![]()
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