Adenium obesum is a species of flowering plant in the dogbane family, Apocynaceae, that is native to the Sahel regions, south of the Sahara (from Mauritania and Senegal to Sudan), and tropical and subtropical eastern and southern Africa and Arabia. Common names include Sabi star, kudu, mock azalea, impala lily and desert rose.
The swollen, twisted stems and large bright flowers of this fascinating plant are eye-catching.
Bean-like seed pods, when fully ripe on the plant, split open -revealing seeds with beautiful “wings” so that seeds can blow away.
The leaves are glossy green, semi-deciduous, spirally arranged, clustered toward the tips of the shoots, simple, entire, leathery in texture, 5-15 cm long and 1-8 cm broad.
Adenium obesum ssp.swazicum is a sub species from Natal in South Africa and Swaziland. Flowers dark pink to red, in summertime…..
Adenium obesum ssp.multiflorum is the subspecies which occurs in Zimbabwe, growing in profusion at Chilo Gorge Safari Lodge.
This, our “Sabi star”, is the most beautiful flower of all the subspecies, a “white star on a pink background”. The plant flowers now, during our Winter, needing a period of dryness for flowering in abundance.
At Chilo Gorge Safari Lodge, these gorgeous plants flower in profusion, and the starry pink flowers of the Sabi Stars are stunning against a cobalt blue sky…
The Xerophytica Congress in Zimbabwe will be a gathering of local and international experts and enthusiasts…..celebrating plants such as the Sabi Star, Aloes, Strelitzias….
I will show my artwork at the Congress….
“Strelitzia”- acrylic on canvas by Lin Barrie:
Lin Barrie, Artist, Xerophytica Congress:
I received a Fine Art Diploma in print making at Durban Technikon in 1980, and pursue my passions (Painting, Conservation and Culture), from the wilderness home that I share with Clive Stockil in the Save Valley Conservancy, and from my Harare Studio at 214 Brooke Drive, Borrowdale Brooke Estate, (partly burnt in a recent house fire, but still functioning!). Together with my father Arthur Barrie, I have recently landscaped the gardens at Chilo Gorge Safari Lodge with water-wise indigenous plants.
I mostly work in the field, capturing the initial essence of a landscape, animal, tree or flower with a sketch. I sometimes also take a sample of the plant, (if not rare or protected,) back to my bush studio to work from. Sabi Stars, Aloes, Crinums, Stapelias, Sansevierias, Euphorbias and Baobabs are at my fingertips in the Lowveld…..I can spend hours on them in my gardens and the surrounding bush.
I have a science background from schooldays, so I do love the detail, function and structure of plants. Looking closely into the detail of a flower can become an abstract art work in itself!
Email: linbarrie@gmail.com
Mobile: 0772922148 or 0772 219204
Studio Landline: 04 860508
Lin Barrie Art -for updates and catalogue, visit my blog page, ‘Art by Lin Barrie’:
https://wildlifeandwilddogs.wordpress.com/art/
Chilo Gorge Safari Lodge website:
wine and wild dogs 