Angola: Northern Namibe – Hoodia Pedicellata

Wow! Angola just totally blew my mind with its succulent plant species – bizarre, otherworldly, unidentifiable, alien! I think the next career step is to get a Ph.D in botanics and come back to Angola to research all these weird species. Next several posts are about this bizarre flora of the northern Namibe. This first plant was totally mind-blowing – looks like a cactus, but it’s not, with spiky bulbous body and then a bunch of beautiful deep-purple small stemmed flowers on top. Totally alien! Add some really weird pod-like fruits that are huge compared to the plant’s size and shaped like a pitchfork. Wow! After hours and hours and hours of research and using 7 different AI engines – it appears to be likely Hoodia Pedicellata – although there are still some noticeable discrepancies. Growing on hard rocks, in very harsh environment, and yet starkly beautiful!