Pachypodium lealii Welw.

DESCRIPTION:  is one of the largest bottle-shaped species in the entire genus. It is a very eye-catching shrub or tall tree-like, succulent. Trunk soft, succulent, with a massively swollen cylindrical basal portion up to 40 (or more) cm in diameter, tapering narrowly upwards, often somewhat bottle-shaped sparingly branched from the middle, occasionally forking near the base. Bark tough silvery-grey to pale brown with darker transverse scars. Main stems few upright tuberculate sparingly branched towards the apex. Trunk and branches bears numerous rigid spines in clusters of three and are full of a watery, resinous and viscid watery latex (juice). As the plant matures, the lower trunk becomes very corky and woody in appearance. Young branchlets and spines glabrous dark grey, reddish brown or purplish.

DISTRIBUTION: Angola, Namibia