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Growth habit
These
plants are medium to large growing evergreen succulent shrubs to small
trees
growing up to a height of 5 metres. Both the stems as well as the
leaves are
succulent. They primarily reproduce
vegetatively seeds seldom being produced in particular in the wetter
regions..
Decorative value
These
plants are extremely decorative feature plants having pale green
succulent leaves
and a very neat growth habit. They very seldom produce flowers, in fact
I have
never seen one produce flowers in the Durban
area.
Drought resistance
In their
natural habitat they are able to withstand very long periods of extreme
drought
due to their succulent nature. From my experience of growing these
plants I
have found them to be very drought resistant.
Disease and pest resistance
These plants
are generally disease resistant.
Suitability as Green Roof plants
From my many
years of experience with these plants and from indications of the
plants that
are being tested under Green Roof conditions these plants certainly
give the
impression that they are going to be excellent Green Roof feature
plants where
much larger plants are able to be grown.
Biodiversity value in the Green
Roof landscape
They create
robust habitat and protection for other green roof dwellers. They are
often fed
on by bagworms and also attract large numbers of a very small light
green leaf
hopper.
Cautions and precautions in the
Green Roof
application
They have fairly
vigorous and extensive root
systems so good root protection must be provided to protect the water
proof
membrane. Under most circumstance they may need to be pruned from time
to time.
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