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  Monadenium ellenbeckii CACTUS ART
NURSERY

Cultivation and Mail Sale
of Cacti and Succulents.


The "Octopus Arms" forms sleek stems covered with a velvety kelly-green epidermis and art-deco groves on round surfaces, that look like corduroy. This species is slightly rhizomatous, and (with time) forms a cluster of small branches. Supposedly tipped with green cymes that get a nice pink, if getting direct sunlight.
 

Description: M. ellenbeckii is a low-growing shrubby succulent perennial herb with fleshy, serpent-like stems that emerge from a central base
Stems: Thin bright/light green, fleshy, columnar or creeping, and shortly rhizomatous. Several to 50 cm or up to 1,5 m long when supported, few branches, up to 15 mm Ø, with 4 longitudinal groves below.
Leaves: Scar-like, forming occasionally, weakly attached at the branch tips, sessile obovate, ovate to 10 x 8 mm, fleshy minutely puberulous.
Flowers: Yellow-green, 1 to 2 forked flower-like cymes which can become pink-toned in full sun, 1-1,5 cm across, peduncles to 5 mm.
Blooming season: Summer.
 

 

 

 

Cultivation: On the whole it adapts to cultivation without much difficulty. It spreads by underground shoots and with time forms large clumps, therefore requiring a broader pot.  It responds to half-sun or bright filtered light, and does well under a shade tree or under a patio. Generally, any quick-draining succulent soil mix will suit it, and the snake-like stem will do well with water about once a week in the warmer months. It needs to be kept drier in winter and whenever not growing actively (about every three-four weeks or so, depending on temperatures).  However, this species seems to hate being wet for any extended period, and can rot easily (especially in winter) if overwatered. Monadenium ellenbeckii, due to its African origin, cannot tolerate freezing temperatures, and should be protected from cold (but should be able to handle 7 degrees C very easily).

Propagation: Cuttings, seeds

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Family: Euphorbiaceae

Scientific name:  Monadenium ellenbeckii N. E. Brown, Dyer,
Fl. Trop. Afr. 6. I. 454., 1911

OriginEthiopia, Somalia, and northern Kenya.

Habitat: Rocky slopes with open shrubs – 1200-1750 m. Most of their habitat, though dry, is tropical in temperature, lacking the extremes of cold and utter aridity that mark the domains of some of the most specialized forms of succulent plants.

Common Names include: "Octopus Arms"

Conservation status: Listed in CITES appendix 2.


Leaves are scar-like on branch tips;  they are ephemeral  and  weakly attached.
 

 


Home | E-mail | Plant files | Mail Sale Catalogue | Links | Information | Search

All the information and photos in cactus art files are now available also in the new the Encyclopaedia of Succulents. We hope you find this new site informative and useful.