Like most of the genus Othonna, O. clavifolia is a winter grower from the dry Mediterranean-climate regions of S Africa and Namibia. When grown “hard”, as in nature, its foliage consists of compact, ovoid, bead-like leaves atop stout caudiciform bases. These have an appeal that has led to collection for the nursery trade of hundreds if not thousands of plants that have ultimately perished in collections due to careless watering. Like collected plants of many species, old specimens plucked from the wild are often very sensitive to over-watering and the fungi encountered in cultivation. Nursery-grown seedlings are better adapted to captive conditions and are still delightful dwarf caudiciforms. HBG 89151, from controlled pollination of two plants (and their progeny) collected in 1990, by J. Lavranos at Grootderm, near the Orange River in the Richtersveld, N Cape, S Africa. $6.
Published in the Cactus and Succulent Journal, Vol. 76 (2), March - April, 2004