It might help people here if you list what you already have, and maybe the difficulty level of care you are interested in. Pachypodium Saundersii on the easy side. Semi-dormant in winter, accepts watering pretty freely in summer.

Ok cool. I have Ibervillea lindheimeri, euphorbia Beuperfolia, euphorbia stellata, a poorly dorstenia gigas, calibanus hookeri ( I think), Cyphostemma elephantopus and discorea elephantipes :)

Caudiciforms are pretty new to me so not sure on the really fussy types which are maybe left alone for a bit until experience is greater.

Adenia glauca, Stephania suberosa, Pelargonium klinghardtense, Euphorbia pachypodioides, Ceraria pymaea, Pterocactus tuberosus, Dorstenia hildebrandtii, Euphorbia tulearensis, Raphionacme species, and Brachystelma species are all very good caudiciforms/pachycauls in my opinion!

For a beginner, I would start with Adenia glauca, since it's relatively easy to see when it needs water (its leaves will go limp) and can help get you accustomed to pruning and hard cut-backs necessary with many vining caudiciforms. :-)

Thanks for the info and list, I will check them out when I can after work :)

The dioscorea elephantipes has a pretty rad look. If you have any pictures you want to share, please do!

ez

Not much happening at all but this is mine, still quite small

This post inspired me to google more types of Pachypodium.....and now I must see if anyone has seeds of Pachypodium namaquanum.

Never mind.... Here http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/539#b

I cant turn off bold and italics!

Not much happening at all..

lol that's a brilliant plant! So..any idea what kind of growth rate your elephantipes is clocking, Phil?

Pagan

Try: Operculicarya decaryi for a "fat" tree with ferny leaves. Ditto...Bursera fagaroides. Both are cheap, and readily available as seedlings and specimen-size plants. Try "Bonsai Collectibles" as a source for caudex succulents.

Good luck and happy growing.

Frank

Euphorbia anything!!! Pachypodiums & Dorstenia are pretty cool, too!

Haha Phil, it could be mistaken for a horse apple at the moment. Still totally cool plant though- love the look!

ez

Actually I think it looks like that character from fantastic four. But like if he had a baby and we were watching it form.

Hi Pagan - I got it last summer via ebay so it's still early days although it had good foliage growth last year, so will see what it throws out this year and train it round some wire like I do with my Ibervillea :)

Bursera fagaroides is easy. Has a lovely scent to the foliage.

And you can make bootleg frankincense with it too.

Can the vines be pruned to increase ramification?

ez

More ramification? That thing already looks like it's about to grow a house!

I definitely recommend Operculicarya decaryi also. I should've tardissed (I verbed it, I can misspell it) back to 1990 to tell myself to get a seedling. It would have been sooo big now.

Pagan

Sorry, I didn't clarify. I was talking about the growth on dioscorea elephantipes. The ones I've seen on internet images usually show one vine circled around with wire to provide some body. I wondered if, by cutting it at say 6" long, you could get more and denser growth.

Do you reckon that turtles and tortoises mimic the Dioscorea elephantipes or that the plant wants you to think it's a tortoise.

I think ink the plant came first and the tortoises after, because if you're a plant, the last thing you want to do is look like something delicious if you only flip it over.

Oh. But now you have me wondering, ez, if Phil were to put a boulder on it on one side, say, you could push caudex growth in the opposite direction. Or, as suggested in another forum, binding.

Tortoises live for decades though, despite how slow they move. That probably means they look delicious to no one.

It's that slow movement and blending in that's made it possible for them. Everything likes to eat turtle if it can get its hands on one. The shell is alive, so if you have powerful enough jaws (practically any predator, even my dog, ask the box turtle I found under my bed one morning) and it can flip that thing over, delicious meal.

Their survival method is being there without seeming to be there.

just being a rock when anyone is around.

http://www.bihrmann.com/caudiciforms/DIV/a.asp

Like, whoa.

Plenty to be seen with a pretty good cultivating guide to use for reference, there are a few ( several ) fat plants not listed on the site.

In regards to ez's question,

I think they readily branch after the first few years of growth, especially when given a micronutrient fertilizer. I received this 5-year old one from someone in my local C&S club about 2 weeks ago with about 1/4 inch of growth. I watered it once with Superthrive and it is currently branching at 5 points along the stem.

It might be hard to see in the picture, but the top four growth points shown, as well as one on the other side of the stem, are all forming lateral growth buds.

That does answer my question Ben, and your plant looks very nice. I think I am talking myself into getting one. Phil's thread may end up costing me some cash!

Holy *flarn-filth-flarn*. That is gorgeous, ez.

Lol, chuchi!

I was thinking about getting some saundersii seeds since I can't seem to find any P. namaquanum seeds. It's probably just out of season for them. They say it's a winter grower....winter here (northern hemisphere) or winter there (southern)....so I'd imagine seeds are really only available after they've flowered and gone to seed.

that's pretty fast for a Pachy, isn't it? Well...I think lamerei is supposed to our be a fast grower. (But I already have a few of those, who doesn't?)