Scientific Name
Polycarpaea nivea (Aiton) Webb
Synonym(s)
Achyranthes nivea, Polycarpon niveum
Common Name(s)
Common White Saladillo
Scientific Classification
Family: Caryophyllaceae
Genus: Polycarpaea
Etymology
The specific epithet "nivea" (pronounced "NIV-ee-uh") means "snowy, snow-white" and refers to the snowy-white or silvery appearance of this species, due to a dense covering of whitish hairs on its leaves and stems.
Origin
Polycarpaea nivea is native to Mauritania, Morocco, Cape Verde, and the Canary Islands.
Description
Polycarpaea nivea is a dense succulent subshrub with short stems, often woody at the base, and strongly fleshy, silvery, or rarely brownish, densely hairy leaves with a pointed or rounded apex. The stems are erect or ascending and often much-branched. Leaves are opposite or apparently whorled, linear to oblanceolate or ovate, with scarious stipules.
The flowers have five petals, shorter than the sepals, and appear in loose or compact terminal cymes.
How to Grow and Care for Polycarpaea nivea
Hardiness: USDA hardiness zone 8a to 10b: from 10°F (-12.2°C) to 40°F (4.4°C).
It is a coastal xerophyte, growing in extremely arid to arid areas of several islands. It is typically on more or less compacted dunes close to the sea, but also on coastal cliffs and stony coastal plains. It is also found in sub-humid to humid mountain areas. In the Canary Islands, it forms psammophyte communities with Convolvulus caput-medusae and Heliotropium bacciferum subsp. erosum, Zygophyllum fontanesii, and Euphorbia paralias.
It is a low-growing, grey, hairy plant seldom seen in cultivation. However, it has been used extensively and successfully in sand-binding experiments on dunes.
See more at How to Grow and Care for Polycarpaea nivea.
Links
- Back to genus Polycarpaea
- Succupedia: Browse succulents by Scientific Name, Common Name, Genus, Family, USDA Hardiness Zone, Origin, or cacti by Genus
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