ISI 2024-21. Othonna patula Schltr.

Anyone who has grown any of the winter-growing succulent composites in the genus Othonna will recognize the small, yellow daisy-like flowers of this odd little species. Nevertheless, Nordenstam suggests that it is sufficiently distinct to merit placement in a new genus, Crassothonna, along with 13 other succulent species varying from the minute caudiciform Othonna cacalioides and O. protecta (ISI 2006-29) to the shrubby succulent leaved O. opima and O. cylindrica (ISI 2004-33). In between are the ground cover species O. capensis (available in cultivation as the typical green form or the red-blushed ‘Ruby Necklace’) and O. sedifolia. O. patula is something between a groundcover and a caudiciform. It is low growing but not dense enough to cover the ground. Rather, it sends out slender branches that arch over. Where they touch ground, they form stilt roots and stem thickenings that can look like cartoon stick figures of people or animals. Enough of these little alien plants have landed on soil that we can offer HBG 134931 here. Our plant originally came from Steven Hammer, Oct 8, 2018, without data, as O. rechingeri, a similar species which B. Nordenstam described in 1971 as differing in having discoid flower heads while those of O. patula are radiate. $10.