Plants Fact Sheet

DIDIERIACEAE
African Ocotillo
Alluaudia procera

This plant bears a strong resemblance to the ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens) of the American southwest but is actually from Madagascar. This is an example of convergent evolution - unrelated plants adapting similar shapes and survival strategies in response to the same environmental conditions. The island of Madagascar is located 200 miles off the SE coast of Africa and evolved isolated from the influence of any other land mass for millions of years. It is estimated that 80% of Madagascar’s 10,000 plant species are found nowhere else in the world. The eleven species of the endemic family Didiereaceae comprise a dominant component of the ‘spiny desert’ found in the island’s semi-arid southwest. African ocotillo grows in areas that may receive no rain for more than a year. It can withstand extended periods of drought, yet lacks the water storage tissues associated with most true succulents.

Human activity has resulted in the degradation of over 80% of the Madagascan landscape. An impoverished population relies principally on slash and burn agriculture and other forms of subsistence living. Millions of zebu cattle are grazed on marginal pasturelands putting additional pressure on unraveling, fragile ecosystems. The rapidly disappearing forests of Alluaudias are cut down to provide fodder for cattle, for building materials and for the making of charcoal. The country’s valuable, red topsoil erodes off the denuded land and bleeds out to sea, resulting in Madagascar being called the Red Island.

African ocotillo adds a unique and interesting element to the low desert plant palette as a vertical focal point, either replacing or complementing the native ocotillo. It starts out as a horizontal mass of tangled branches that matures into a vertical tower of stems reaching over 30 feet high. The small, rounded, succulent green leaves clothe the stems during the warm wet season and drop off during any lengthy dry periods or with the onset of winter. Clusters of tiny white flowers are borne at the tip of the spine-covered stems on separate male and female plants. Established plants should tolerate low temperatures into the upper 20’s (F). An African ocotillo at The Living Desert survived a night of 22 degrees but has taken years to recover. Weekly soaking, once the stems have leafed out, will encourage growth rates of up to 12” a year. As the leaves drop with the beginning of the fall temperatures, decrease watering to once or twice a month. While most members of the Didiereaceae family are rare in cultivation, African ocotillo (Alluaudia procera) can often be found in nurseries like The Living Desert’s Palo Verde Garden Center.