PENDENS van Jaarsveld, 2003

Distribution : SA : Eastern Cape, sheer cliff faces along the Bashe River, 300 - 400 m.

Description :

Much-branched succulent shrublet with dense, curtain-forming, hanging stems up to 60 cm long.

Roots fibrous and not succulent.

Stems initially soft and flaccid, ca. 2 mm thick, whitish green, nodes ca. 7 - 15 mm apart. Stem and leaves first sparsely beset with glandular hairs, becoming hairless with age.

Leaves often crowded, highly succulent, in opposite pairs, pendent, elliptic to elliptic-ovoid, 18 - 25 x 10 - 15 mm, 7 - 10 mm thick, apex mucronate, base wedge-shaped, whitish grey-green, pruinose, margins reddish, petiole 1.5 - 2 mm.

Inflorescences at the ends of the branches, branched and hanging, 50 - 90 cm long, up to 4 flowers (sometimes only a single flower), pedicel 8 - 18 mm.

Flowers bell-shaped, orange-red, 40 - 45 x 12 - 13 mm, tube cylindrical,  slightly bulging in the middle, petals spreading, stamens yellowish-green, anthers yellow.

Flowering time : During mid-summer.

C. pendens is closely related to C. woodii but differs by its flaccid pendent growth and branched inflorescence. As with C. woodii, it often produces solitary flowers; however C. woodii is a sturdy woody erect shrub up to 1 m high.