ISI 2026-30 Stapelia paniculata subsp. kougabergensis

ISI 2026-30. Stapelia paniculata subsp. kougabergensis (L.C.Leach) Bruyns.

This plant was received from the former Shoal Creek Succulents nursery in October 2008 before they liquidated their stapeliad collection and closed business. It was received with their number 201963 as Stapelia paniculata subsp. scitula ex the International Asclepiad Society (IAS 1533). Peter Bruyns, the collector, was subsequently able to provide us with the data for his collection PVB 6790 from Goudmyn in the Rooiberg near Robertson, W. Cape, S. Africa. Meanwhile we acquired another Bruyns collection that we distributed as ISI 2009-28. These were grown by C&J nursery from seed collected in the hills around Robertson. We distributed divisions of multiple clones, a few of which persist, but this has proven to be a rather finicky stapeliad prone to rot. The Shoal Creek plant, meanwhile, filled a pan in the Desert Conservatory and became a wonderfully floriferous display specimen. When the Conservatory was under renovation starting in April 2022, the entire collection was relocated to a shade house with the expectation that renovation would be complete by the following October. Renovations dragged on and we found ourselves inadvertently conducting a grand experiment into the tolerances of a diverse collection of succulents for our Mediterranean climate including winter rains and cool winter temperatures. It turned out to be quite instructive as to what preferred shade house conditions and what didn't. The Shoal Creek Stapelia turned out to be fine in the shade house, flowering as well or better in outdoor conditions with more ventilation and UV light. Its identity as a form of S. paniculata var. scitula still seemed plausible so I never sent photos to Bruyns for confirmation of the identity. However, it did stand out as a more robust and floriferous form with slightly larger, attractively banded flowers. When looking more closely at its characteristics and comparing to the ISI collection, it finally dawned on me that this was not Stapelia paniculata subsp. scitula. Further research has finally clarified the identity of the Shoal Creek plant as S. paniculata subsp. kougabergensis and that the locality data for PVB 6790 does not apply. Apparently, there was a label switch. Our plant compares quite favorably with PVB 6326 illustrated in Bruyns' two-volume Stapeliads of Southern Africa and Madagascar. It is reported much further east than the Robertson area, in fact, occurring mostly in the Eastern Cape and barely in the adjacent Western Cape. Divisions of HBG 102296.