Tylecodon paniculatus

{{Short description|Species of succulent}} {{Speciesbox |image = Tylecodon paniculatus Rooiberg Nature Reserve.jpg |image_caption = ''Tylecodon paniculatus'' in Rooiberg Nature Reserve, South Africa. |status = LC |status_system = IUCN3.1 |status_ref = |genus = Tylecodon |species = paniculatus |authority = (L.f.) Toelken (1978) |synonyms = *''Cotyledon paniculata'' L.f. }}

'''''Tylecodon paniculatus''''', also known as '''butter bush''', '''butter tree''', '''butterboom''' or '''rooisuikerblom''' (Afrikaans), is a species of succulent plant in the genus ''Tylecodon'' belonging to the family Crassulaceae.<ref name=kew>{{cite web|url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:276916-1|title=''Tylecodon paniculatus'' (L.f.) Toelken|accessdate=6 February 2022|work=Plants of the World Online|publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens Kew}} </ref>

== Etymology == The genus name is a syllabic anagram of the former name ''Cotyledon'', created by Helmut Toelken who split a few species off into a genus of their own.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tölken |first1=H. |title=New taxa and new combinations in Cotyledon and allied genera |journal=Bothalia |date=15 December 1978 |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=377–393 |doi=10.4102/abc.v12i3.1794 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283906995|doi-access=free }}</ref>

The species Latin epithet refers to the shape of inflorescence — branched terminal panicles.

The common names refer to soft, fleshy and brittle stems. For centuries children have used the soft, slippery stems as sleds.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Coates Palgrave |first1=Keith |title=Trees of southern Africa |date=2002 |publisher=Struik Publishers |location=Cape Town |isbn=1868723895 |page=239 |edition=3rd, New / rev. and updated by Meg Coates Palgrave}}</ref>

==Description== ''Tylecodon paniculatus'' is a thickset, robust succulent dwarf tree up to 2.5–3 m tall, with very fat stems with usually well branched rounded crown. The single main trunk and branches are covered with mustard-yellow to olive-green bark peeling in papery semi-translucent sheets. Branches are short, with prominent leaf scars. Leaves are clustered and spirally arranged around the apex of the growing tips simple during the wintertime; they are paddle-shaped, 5–12 cm long and 2–10 cm wide, thickly succulent, bright yellowish-green; apex is broadly tapering to rounded, base is tapering without petiole. The plant is deciduous. Inflorescences are spectacular slender, ascending thyrses to 40 cm, with bright crimson-red stalks. Flowers have five joined sepals and five joined petals, forming an orange-yellow to red urn-shaped tube 1.5–2.5 cm long with spreading lobes. Ten stamens are pendulous at first, then upright as the petal-tube dries.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Eggli |first1=Urs |title=Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants: Crassulaceae |date=2003 |publisher=Springer Berlin Heidelberg |location=Berlin, Heidelberg |isbn=978-3-642-55874-0 |pages=359}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=F. Smith |first1=Gideon |last2=R Crouch |first2=Neil |last3=Figueiredo |first3=Estrela |title=Field Guide to Succulents of Southern Africa |date=2017 |publisher=Penguin Random House South Africa |isbn=9781775843672 |pages=317}}</ref>

It hybridises with ''Tylecodon wallichii''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Manning |first1=John C.. |title=Field guide to wild flowers of South Africa |date=2013 |publisher=Random House Struik |location=Cape Town |isbn=9781920544874 |page=236}}</ref>

==Habitat== Rocky slopes in Succulent Karoo.

==Distribution== The species grows in the arid, winter rain-fall regions from Namibia to the southwestern South Africa.

==Toxicity== The plant contains bufadienolide-type cardiac glycoside cotyledoside which causes cotyledonosis or nenta poisoning ("krimpsiekte") in sheep and goats.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kellerman |first1=T. S. |last2=Coetzer |first2=J. A. W. |last3=Naudé |first3=T. W. |last4=Botha |first4=C. J. |title=Plant poisonings and mycotoxicoses of livestock in southern Africa |date=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0195761344 |pages=116–146 |edition=2nd}}</ref>

==Subspecies== * ''Tylecodon paniculatus subsp. paniculatus '' — southwestern Namibia through to Cape Province. * ''Tylecodon paniculatus subsp. glaucus'' <small>van Jaarsv.</small> — Namibia.<ref name=kew/>

==Gallery== <gallery widths="200px" heights="200px"> File:Tylecodon paniculatus Richtersveld.jpg|Young plant in the early spring in Richtersveld. File:Tylecodon paniculatus-PICT2534.jpg|Flowering plant in ǀAi-ǀAis/Richtersveld Transfrontier Park. File:Tylecodon paniculatus01.jpg|Inflorescences are borne in late spring to mid-summer just as the plant sheds its leaves. File:Tylecodon paniculatus Flower.jpg|Flowers in Anysberg Nature Reserve. </gallery>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{Commons category-inline}} * [http://www.bihrmann.com/caudiciforms/subs/tyl-pan-sub.asp Bihrmann] * [https://worldofsucculents.com/tylecodon-paniculatus-butter-tree/ World of Succulents]

Category:Plants described in 1978 Category:Flora of the Cape Provinces Category:Flora of Namibia paniculatus Category:Taxa named by Hellmut R. Toelken