This Madagascan species is named for its compact growth but, as stated in the Illustrated Handbook of Succulents, “the compact growth is lost in cultivation”. Instead, it produces long, draping stems to a meter or more making it resemble a thick-stemmed (3-5 mm ø) Rhipsalis. The small, chartreuse flowers are produced in few-flowered umbels and have the typical 5-merous structure of the Asclepiadaceae, now merged into the Apocynaceae. We have found the plant to be occasionally self-fertile and have grown some seed just for fun but here offer rooted cuttings of HBG 102073 ex Shoal Creek Nursery ex Barad. This is apparently a reaccession of HBG 89176 for which the notes read as follows:
Coll.: Madagascar: 15 km. from Ivato, on a rocky outcrop in a heavily grazed area. According to Barad, 1/26/03, this was a “tiny two or three inch plant… It probably did not get into the data book that Seymour [Linden] was keeping and did not get a Lavranos number. It grew very well for me and I sent some of it to Sigrid Liede who gave me the determination of Cynanchum compactum.” According to Barad, 2/14, Lavranos confirmed that his number “29977 is a Cynanchum from this locality.”
While the Lavranos number 29977 is missing from Roy Mottram’s published compilation of Lavranos numbers, apparently John had record of it. Therefore, we are able to state with some certainty that this is that collection found 15 km from Ivato. Rooted cuts, $8.
Published in the Cactus and Succulent Journal, Vol. 93 (2), Summer 2021