"Miniature desert rose "

Description

Trichodiadema densum is a succulent flowering plant in the fig-marigold family Aizoaceae, native to the Willowmore region of the Western Cape Province, South Africa. It is a small, dense, compact, clumping shrub. The leaves are packed densely along the stems (the internodes are scarcely visible) and each leaf is tipped with a diadem of ca. 20 white radiating bristles. The flowers are reddish in colour, with filamentous staminodes at the centre. The pale fruit capsule has six locules (not five like T. burgeri), each with very well developed covering membranes. This species very closely resembles Trichodiadema burgeri, which is more elongated and has five locules. Trichodiadema densum has received the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. Trichodiadema is a genus of succulent plants of the family Aizoaceae. The name "Trichodiadema" comes from the ancient Greek (hair, bristle) and (crown) They come from Cape Province in South Africa. Trichodiadema are small, short-stemmed succulents with small, elongated, alternating sections measuring 8 mm long. They are grey and green. At the apex of each alternating section is a ring of small bristles radiating around the center, that give the appearance of a cactus areola. The flowers look like daisies, with red, pink or white petals, earning them the nickname "Desert Rose". Two species however, Trichodiadema aureum and Trichodiadema introrsum, have flowers that are yellow. The plant requires sun exposure (although not too intense), and well-drained soil. Propagation is by division of the clumps. Propagation by cuttings is difficult, because of the risk of rot. Trichodiademum densum has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.