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  Pachypodium lamerei forma cristata CACTUS ART
NURSERY

Cultivation and Mail Sale
of Cacti and Succulents.


Pachypodium lamerei forma cristata
It is an intricately form with fan-shaped crested branches forming a snaky ridge or crowded cluster. It is attractively marked with long shining dark green leaves.
 

During the winter resting phase it looses most of the foliage and the stems take a nice chocolate tinge.

Summer (Active growing phase)

Photo and © copyright by Andrea B. (Bologna, Italy)
http://www.cactusfriends.com/Andrea/index.html 


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Family: Apocynaceae

Scientific name:  Pachypodium lamerei Drake1899
Forma cristata

Origin Garden origin (Nursery produced cultivar)

Common Names include: Crested Madagascar Palm, Crested Club Foot.

Conservation status: Listed in CITES appendix II
 

Description: Pachypodium lamerei forma cristata is a nice large succulent with a thick crested trunk. The spiny gray stem will soon form an heavily convoluted fan-shaped or snaky ridged cluster. The comb-shaped foliage is arranged only at the top of the trunk .
 

 

 


 

Cultivation: Is fairly easy to grow both indoors, as well as outdoors in warm climates and can grow at about 10cm a year. In the winters it is deciduous, except in very tropical areas. Needs a draining cactus potting mix and regular water when the plant has leaves, contrary to popular belief, it likes a lot of water in the warm summers, as long as it's planted in a very well draining soil. Indoors it is best to err on the dry side, or it is prone to rot.  It like full sun to light shade with warm temperatures.
It is a fairly slow growing plant, but in 10 years it can easily outgrow its indoor location, requiring a 'pruning'. Though branching is usually a response to naturaly injury, or something that happens in older specimens, one can stimulate branching by cutting off its top. It has amazing regenerative properties.
Repot the plant every 3 years; this is quite tricky given all the spines. The best way is to wrap several layers of newspaper around the trunk where it is to be handled.

Propagation: By vegetative propagation grafting, the stem cuttings usually don't root.

 

Photo of conspecific taxa, varieties, forms and cultivars of Pachypodium lamerei.

Photo gallery: Alphabetical listing of Cactus and Succulent pictures published in this site.

Photo gallery PACHYPODIUM

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.