UC Botanical Garden—Southern African Collection

In spite of good intentions I never seem to make it to the UC Botanical Garden (UCBG) in Berkeley more than once or twice a year. But thanks to the lull in work between Christmas and New Year I was able to get away last Friday. It was a cold and gray day, a bit too gray to make for perfect photography conditions, but it was still better than the bright sunny weather I had encountered on previous visits.

This post is about UCBG’s Southern African Collection. In separate posts I’ll take you to the New World Desert and Asian Collections. Most of the other garden sections aren’t that interesting in the winter so I skipped them.

The garden entrance isn’t splashy, but the large Yucca rostrata with its spiky blue hairdo is a good indication that this is no ordinary place.

Entrance at 200 Centennial Way

Yucca rostrata

Just inside the entrance you’re greeted by this beautiful clump of Mexican weeping bamboo (Otatea acuminata ‘Aztecorum’), one of my favorite bamboos.

Mexican weeping bamboo (Otatea acuminata ‘Aztecorum’) just inside the entrance gate

The entrance plaza features many other exotic plants from around the world—a good cross-section of the habitats represented at UCBG.

Plantings near the entrance

Plantings near the entrance

Encephalartos eugene-maraisii (left), Chamaerops humilis ‘Argentea’ (right)

The Garden Shop is usually my last stop before I leave, but since it’s right near the entrance, I thought I’d show you a few photos up front.

Encephalartos arenarius with Garden Shop in the background

Garden Shop with just some of the many plants for sale

I didn’t buy any plants this time but I hope to be back in the spring for a shopping outing.

More sale plants

Past the Garden Shop begins the South African Collection, the focus of this post. According to the UCBG web site:

Our collection is especially rich in Mediterranean-climate flora of the Cape region.  We feature the karoo and fynbos plant communities as well as plants of the Eastern Cape region. Some adaptations found in these communities include water and nutrient storage, such as succulent leaves and carbohydrate-rich bulbs.

Plants from the Cape region are well-suited to conditions in California gardens and have become popular in horticulture…The Cape region and California are two of the world’s biodiversity hotspots. The Cape region contains more than 2½ times the number of species in 1/3 of the area.

The big draw of the Southern African Collection at this time of the year are the winter-blooming aloes. Some were in full bloom while in others the flower stalks were just beginning to emerge.

Aloe pluridens

Aloe pluridens

Aloe pluridens

Aloe pluridens

Aloe speciosa

Aloe speciosa

Aloe capitata var. quartziticola

Aloe capitata var. quartziticola

View of South African Collection and arid greenhouse, with Aloe suprafoliata on the right

Aloe suprafoliata

Aloe arborescens

View of New World Desert (left) South African Collection (right) and arid greenhouse (top right), with Aloe marlothii on the right

Aloe marlothii getting ready to bloom; note the unusual branched inflorescence

While aloe flowers are pretty spectacular, especially en masse, aloes are beautiful even without them. Check out the wide variety of hues, shapes and textures.

Aloe capitata var. quartziticola, my favorite aloe

Aloe mitriformis

Aloe mitriformis

Aloe mubendiensis

Aloe aculeata

Aloe arborescens (left), Aloe plicatilis (right)

Aloe arborescens (left), Aloe plicatilis (right)

Aloe plicatilis

Aloe plicatilis

Aloe striata

Aloe comptonii

Aloe polyphylla, aka spiral aloe. Most people consider it to be not only the most spectacular aloe, but also one of the most stunning of all succulents. Unfortunately, my semi-mature specimen rotted and died so I’m currently without a spiral aloe.

Aloe polyphylla

 

Aloe polyphylla

In this photo you can see how steep the hillside is. The slope goes a long way towards creating the fast drainage these southern hemisphere natives need.

Aloe brevifolia

Aloes are a large part of the Southern African Collection, but there are many other species of succulent and non-succulent plants. Here are a just a couple of other succulents I found interesting.

Crassula tetragona

Senecio scaposus

Many people don’t realize that southern Africa is home to some of the most spectacular and bizarre bulbous plants in the world. Everybody knows Gladiolus but what about Boophone, Haemanthus, or Brunsvigia?

Boophone haemanthoides

Boophone haemanthoides

Boophone haemanthoides

Haemanthus coccineus

Brunsvigia josephinae

Brunsvigia marginata

Euphorbia is a vast genus consisting of more than succulent and non-succulent 2,000 species found in temperate, tropical, and subtropical zones all over the world. The diversity of this genus is astounding, ranging from the Mexican poinsettia to the Mediterranean spurges to the cactus-like species of Africa. I encountered two of these columnar “cacti” in the Southern African Collection:

Euphorbia coerulescens

Euphorbia coerulescens

Euphorbia horrida

Euphorbia coerulescens (left), Euphorbia horrida (right)

Another group of plants of great interest to me are the cycads. Most gardeners are familiar with the sago palm (Cycas revoluta), native to southern Japan, but there are over 300 cycad species worldwide, about 60 of which are found in southern Africa. The most spectacular African cycads are in the genus Encephalartos, and the UCBG has a good selection of the hardier species. (“Hardy” is a bit of a euphemism since no encephalartos is able to survive temperatures below the mid-20s.)

What makes encephalartos so attractive are their graceful “fronds” of stiff and often prickly leaves. Like all cycads, encephalartos look like ancient plants that would have been right at home in the age of the dinosaurs (they weren’t, contrary to popular belief).

Encephalartos altensteinii

Encephalartos altensteinii

Encephalartos arenarius

Encephalartos arenarius with Haemanthus albiflos (white-flowered bulb)

Encephalartos senticosus

Encephalartos trispinosus

Encephalartos trispinosus

Encephalartos longifolius

Encephalartos horridus × longifolius

 

Encephalartos horridus × longifolius

Encephalartos horridus × longifolius

Lepidozamia peroffskyana (right) behind Phoenix canariensis. Lepidozamia is a cycad genus native to Australia but I’m including this photo because it fits right in with the southern African cycads.

UCBG doesn’t have an extensive protea collection like UC Santa Cruz Arboretum does but I found one king protea (Protea cynaroides) that should be in full bloom in a few weeks. Even last year’s flowers provide a lot of interest.

 

King protea (Protea cynaroides)

King protea (Protea cynaroides)

Related posts:

► UCBG New World Desert Collection

► UCBG Asian Collection