![]() ![]() The foliage is edible – and is commonly eaten in southern Africa, usually in salads or soups to add a sour flavor – and was traditionally used medicinally for a variety of minor ailments. The rounded to oval leaves are nearly sessile on the reddish stems. It looks superficially similar to jade plant, but has much smaller leaves that tend to be closer together on thinner stems. Heavy branches may break off, often rooting where they fall and beginning new plants. The stiff, irregularly arranged branches will grow into a thicket if left unpruned. Although succulent, the trunk and branches have a woody inner tissue. The glossy emerald green, opposite leaves are borne on brittle, fleshy reddish-brown stems and tapering branches that mature to a grayish color. The fleshy, flattened, ½-¾ inch long nearly sessile (without a distinct petiole) leaves are round to oval in shape. This is a soft-wooded, semi-evergreen upright multi-stemmed shrub or small tree that can grow 8 to 15 feet tall in the ground in mild climates (hardy in zones 9- 11). ![]() afra is an excellent ‘carbon sponge’, with the ability to efficiently use more carbon from the air than most other plants (since it can use both normal and CAM pathways to grow despite adverse climatic conditions) and can therefore remove more carbon from the atmosphere than an equal amount of deciduous forest. Also sometimes called elephant food or elephant plant dwarf jade, miniature jade or small leaf jade (but not related to jade plant, Crassula ovata) porkbush or spekboom (in Afrikaans) or other common names in Africa, it is found on rocky outcrops and slopes from the Little Karoo in the Western Cape to the Eastern Cape northwards into KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland, Mpumalanga and the Limpopo Province and further north into Mozambique.Īlthough it is considered to be in the purslane plant family (Portulacaceae), molecular phylogenetic studies suggest this genus should be in the Didiereaceae, a group otherwise found only in Madagascar. It is easily grown as a seasonal accent plant or low maintenance houseplant in our part of the world. Portulacaria afra, at the Karoo Desert Botanical Garden, Worcester, South Africa.Įlephant bush, Portulacaria afra, is a perennial succulent shrub from South Africa that is a popular succulent garden plant around the world.
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