Cotyledon orbiculata L.
Succulent subshrub with short, thick stem, often branched and forming clumps. Lvs opposite, sometimes subrosulate, ± vertical, sessile, to 11 × 9 cm, 5-12-(15) mm thick near middle, broadly obovate, very rarely narrow- oblong, ± concave above and convex beneath, entire, green with dense covering of white bloom; margin usually reddish purple; apex rounded and often ± mucronate. Flowering stems to c. 50 cm high, purplish and covered with white bloom. Cymes of few to many pendent fls; bracts 0.5-2 cm long. Sepals 3-5 mm long, triangular, green or ± red, covered with white bloom. Corolla 3-4-(4.7) cm long, orange or orange-red; tube c. ⅔ length of corolla, broadly cylindric and shallowly ribbed, with some bloom outside; lobes becoming reflexed, acute. Stamens 2-2.5 cm long, yellow. Styles 1.5-2 cm long, green. Scales 2-2.5 mm long, oblong, triangular-ovate to almost square. Follicles 2-3 cm long. Seeds 0.5-0.8 mm long, oblong, longitudinally ribbed.
N.: Anawhata (Auckland), Whakatane (Bay of Plenty), Paekakariki and around Wellington Harbour; S.: Marlborough coast, N. Canterbury coast, Port Hills and other localities on Banks Peninsula, Otago Peninsula.
South Africa 1952
Coastal slopes and beaches, often on steep banks, rocky outcrops, cliff faces and bare ledges, sometimes in low scrub and dry depleted grassland, sometimes forming large populations.
FL Dec-Jun.
C. orbiculata is sometimes a very conspicuous and abundant component of the vegetation, particularly when the tall infls of orange-red fls are produced (Plate 12). Variation in lf and fl. colour is mainly a reflection of the amount of white bloom on the surface. With less bloom the lvs appear greener and the fls brighter orange. A much rarer and more obvious variant is present in populations of the sp. on Banks Peninsula where there are plants with oblong lvs, 8-11 × 2.5-3 cm, concave above. However, in such plants the infl. does not differ from that in the common form (e.g., CHR 436668, Banks Peninsula above Sumner, Wilson, 19.1.1986).
In a detailed study of C. orbiculata, Tölken, H. R., Bothalia 12: 615-620 (1979), accepted 5 vars based on lf shape and surface, and corolla length and shape. He stated that some vars grow together and hybridise frequently. All plants with flattened and ± orbicular lvs are referred to the widespread var. orbiculata. However, this var. can have ± oblong lvs as do the other vars. The oblong-leaved Banks Peninsula plants cannot be assigned to any of these other vars and are presumed to belong to var. orbiculata although they do not exactly correspond with the narrow-leaved form of var. orbiculata described by Tölken. Our narrow-leaved plants are probably derived from the usually orbicular-leaved form because they are not known in cultivation in N.Z. Such plants somewhat resemble some cultivation relics in the area, but these are hybrids referable to C. campanulata Marloth × C. orbiculata var. oblonga (Haw.) DC. and have green lvs and infls which have few to many small glandular hairs.
