Elephant's Foot Plant

Pachypodium rosulatum is a shrubby perennial caudiciform plant with a bottle-shaped trunk, brownish silver and almost spineless, about 10–15 centimetres (3.9–5.9 in) wide and about 20–35 centimetres (7.9–13.8 in) tall. From the caudex depart many thorny cylindrical arms, forming a shrub about 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in) tall. The leaves, which fall in the dry season, form a rosette on the top of branches. They are deciduous, dark green, oblanceolate, ovate or elliptical and petiolated. The long-stalked flowers are sulphur-yellow and form an inflorescence about 30 centimetres (12 in) high. Flowering period extends from February through May. The fruits are 6 to 20 inches long and contain elongated seeds with a length of 6 mm.

These plants prefer sunny and stony areas. The succulent caudex and the underground tuberous enable the plant to tolerate long periods of drought.