Succulent: Cotyledon Obiculata var. Spuria

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^{The beautiful flowers}

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Commonly known as Pig's Ear or Round-Leafed Navel-Wort

Another succulent from my garden (grown from a cutting) has presented some beautiful flowers which I thought they would make the perfect subject for some macro-photography practice.

After taking the shots however, I was once again, NOT surprised to find that had no idea as to the name of the plant, all I knew was it's a succulent.

So off I go on my own personal challenge to 'Name That Plant'.

Thankfully, I found a picture fairly quickly that helped me to identify the genus and species, although there are a number of recognised varieties and cultivated forms, I do believe this particular variety is known as Spuria

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^{A photo of the whole plant (while treading lightly so I don't wake my resident hobbit)}

^{New green growth}

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Being a plant from South Africa, I also found a wealth of information at PlantzAfrica.com hosted by SANBI (South African National Biodiversity Institute. According to their site, "this is a well-known medicinal plant. The fleshy part of the leaf can be applied to soften and remove hard corns and warts; a dried leaf is used as a protective charm for an orphan child or as a plaything; the heated leaf is used as a poultice for boils and other accessible inflammations, earache in particular.

Van Wyk et al. (1997) report that a single leaf is eaten as a vermifuge and that the warmed juice can be used as drops for toothache or earache. They also report that the juice has been used to treat epilepsy."

Pretty amazing stuff, growing right here in my own garden. Who knew, not me that's for sure - but I do now.

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^{Some more flowers showing the white powdery surface that helps reflect sunlight and conserve water}

^{The flowers eventually turn to seed.}

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The Cotyledon Orbiculata Page at Wikipedia describes the plant as follows:

"C. orbiculata is an extremely variable species that grows to approximately 1.3 m (4.3 ft) in height.[1] It has gray-green leaves that can be up to 13 by 7 cm (5.1 by 2.8 in) with a white powdery substance on them that helps reflect sunlight and conserve water.[2] The shape of the leaves was thought to have a resemblance to a pig's ear, thus the common name.[3] The bell-shaped flowers are small, usually less than 3 cm (1.2 in) in length, and droop from the top of a 60 cm (24 in) tall stalk.[1] The flowers are usually orange-red but yellow varieties also exist."

Initial identification by photograph was obtained from the The Succulent Garden

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