Basic Information
Scientific Name: Cotyledon pendens
Alias: Cliff Cotyledon
Family: Crassulaceae
Genus: Cotyledon
Color primary: grey-green
color secondary: reddish
Bloom shape: bell-shaped
Bloom color: orange-red
Seasonality: Spring/Full
Hardiness: 30℉(-1.1℃) - 50℉(+10℃)
Maxium Height:up to 2 feet(60 cm)long
Maxium Rosette size: 1.8 inches(4.5 cm)long.
Light conditions: Full light but partial light in Summer
Soil mix:well drainage soil
Water:Watering when soil is totally dry.Keep soil dry in Winter.
Description
Cotyledon pendens is a much-branched,succulent shrublet with dense,curtain-forming,hanging stems up to 2 feet(60 cm)long.The stems and leaves are at first sparsely beset with glandular hairs,becoming hairless with age.Its leaves are in opposite pairs,pendent,often crowded and highly succulent.The leaf blades are elliptic to ovoid,up to 1 inch(2.5 cm)long,up to 0.6 inch(1.5cm)wide and up to 0.4 nch(1 cm)thick.The leaf surface is whitish grey-green(due to the powdery bloom)with reddish margain.The inflorescence is branched,hanging up to 3.6 inches(9cm)long,with up to 4 flowers and produced at the ends of the branches.The flowers are bell-shaped,orange-red and up to 1.8 inches(4.5 cm)long.
How to grow and care
Cotyledons can be divided into 2 groups.One group consists of evergreen plants with a summer growing period.The other group is made up of deciduous plants,splendidly magnificent with large,solid fleshy stems.The second group grows during the winter and sheds its leaves during the summer.
These succulents require a free-draining gritty mix and plenty of sun.They are tolerant of cool,frost-free conditions during the winter if kept dry.Some require pruning to maintain an attractive shape.Cotyledons should be kept in a sunny position.Follow general succulent watering procedures.Be careful of overwatering when they are deciduous.
As succulents go,Cotyledons certainly are rewarding garden and indoor subjects,practically independent of irrigation in all but full desert conditions,though they cannnot survive poor light or bad drainage in the wet.
Feed it once or twice during the growing season with a fertilizer specifically formulated for cactus and succulents(poor in nitrogen(,including all micro nutrients and trace elements diluted to 1/2 the strength recommended on the label.