The specific epithet of Tylecodon striatus refers to the thin branches, striated with long vertical lines running from the thick underground caudex to the narrow succulent leaves. This species covers a wide range from Sutherland in the Western Cape to the Richtersveld in the north, two very different ecosystems at opposite ends of the Succulent Karoo biome, which harbors nearly a third of the world’s succulent plants. Each locality shows some variation, with leaves from linear to lanceolate and stems of varying thickness. The form we grow is a particularly fat one, in both leaf and caudex, with many older plants developing massive underground bases. This trait is more pronounced in seed-grown plants than in cuttings. The plants offered here are three-year-old seedlings, growing quickly and already in bloom.
