Madagascar Octopus Tree
Didierea madagascariensis
Didierea madagascariensis, commonly known as the octopus tree, is a species of Didiereaceae endemic to the spiny thickets of southwestern Madagascar. It was first described scientifically by the French botanist Henri Ernest Baillon in 1880 and is the type species of the genus Didierea.
It is known in Malagasy as sohongy, sony and soribarika. Sohongy and sony come from the Tanosy dialect word songo meaning "lock of hair" or a rooster's crest or comb possibly referring to its branches that sprawl upwards.
From the article Didierea madagascariensis on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
As with all members of the sub-family Didiereoideae, this is a semi-succulent woody, shrub to small tree. It is densely spiny and can grow up to 10 metres (33 ft) tall. Spines are arranged in whorls, mostly of four. Leaves are small and narrow-lanceolate and arranged in rosettes.
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
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In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Didierea madagascariensis in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 367748.