Xerophyte

Habit

It is a small snake-like succulent with thin tufted cylindrical branches (as implied in its generic name which means “viper-like”). It is named “cereiformis” from its cactus-like appearance (also a good mimic of stems of Euphorbia mamillaris).

Leaves

Tiny, rudimentary, triangular, thick, finely papillose, ascending, very early Falling, borne on tubercles.

Description

Echidnopsis cereiformisSN|18992]]SN|18992]] var. obscura is a dark flowered variety of Echidnopsis cereiformisSN|18992]]SN|18992]] with tiny deep brown flowers that sprout out of the entire length of each stem but mainly toward the tip in autumn. The var. obscura often mentioned in literature and sometimes offered in plant lists, should be fully synonymized with the type variety.

Roots

fibrous.

Flowers

Very small, fascicled, sessile, deep brown-purple produced near the stems summits. Corolla campanulate 3-8 mm across, inner surface usually hairless, brown-purple to red-brown, outer surface dull yellow, brownish or purplish. Calyx tube, hemispheric. Lobes 5 triangular, acute, erect to slightly diverging, valvate. Corona bright yellow, outer lobes reduced to linear or triangular teeth in gaps between inner lobes or absent. Pollinia erect, globose, yellow.

Blooming Season

Late summer to autumn.

Stem

7-30 cm (often up to 60) cm long. reclining to upright, leafless, green, dull dark green, brownish-green or reddish, rooted on the under side, round, with flatfish, tasselled ribs divided into 6-10 (usually 8) rows of broadly hexagonal, oblong, flat tubercles (podaria) each with a white central papilla (the remains of an undeveloped leaf), of a uniform bright green, firm consistence, papillose and faintly wrinkled surface. Buds from the transverse depressions on the ribs.