During our visit to the Eastern Cape in September 1985, my husband Des collected an unusual specimen of Avonia ustulata on a farm near Steytlerville. It was, and still is like a miniature tree. When Des collected it, it measured 11 cm in height and the main stem was 9 mm thick at its base. Thirteen years later, when he published a short description and picture of it in CactusCo in Volume 11, No. 2, page 22, April 1998, the height had increased to 14 cm. The woody stem was still 9 mm thick at its base and it had four main branches with some smaller ones. Now, in 2021, more than 35 years since being collected, it has not increased much in height, being 16 cm tall, but as can be seen in the photograph (Fig 36.103), it has numerous small, densely packed branches compared to the picture in CactusCo. (Fig 36.104). It is still in its original 11 cm square pot, as Des planted it. In his original article, Des suggested that this plant must have already been very old, as Gordon Rowley described the species as normally growing to about 3 cm in height.
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