Association of three succulent plant species with woody canopy in the mixed bushveld, South Africa

Abstract

Succulents are an important component of the mixed bushveld. Although the nurse plant syndrome is known from arid areas, association of succulents with woody canopy has ot been studied in non-arid areas. The study was done in two phases, the first being to confirm the existence of an association and the second being to investigate a possible cause of the association. The three species studied were all significantly associated with woody canopy. All of the relatively small (0-1 m) Euphorbia ingens plants and most of the relatively small (0-0.5m) Aloe marlothii and Opuntia vulgaris plants encountered were beneath woody canopy. There was a very strong significant association between being damaged by fire and growing between woody canopies for all three species. Fires are likely to be lethal to any plants of the study species that are shorter than about 1 m. In any area where fires are frequent there are likely to be fewer young plants of the study species between woody canopies than there will be within the protection of a bush clump.