Pterodiscus is an underappreciated genus, rivaling Adenium and Pachypodium in its “flower-to-caudex” ratio, with large, conventionally attractive blooms and fat tubers and trunks that can be appreciated as natural bonsai. Like close relatives Sesamothamnus and Uncarina, these xerophytes are some of the only succulent caudex-forming members of the sesame family, Pedaliaceae. Pterodiscus speciosus is a true geophyte, growing a large tuber buried entirely under the surface with vigorous, deciduous stems that are too thick to describe as vines. From these seasonal shoots, narrow folded leaves with a fuzzy texture grow in vertical rows, with large Adenium-like purple flowers that spontaneously emerge between leaf nodes. Worth growing for its flowers alone, this species blooms profusely through its spring/summer growing season, after which the stems die back to the tuber to preserve energy for the next season, content with being stored dry and shaded in the meantime.
