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About Butter Tree

Tylecodon paniculatus, the Butter Tree (Botter Boom), is a striking succulent shrub native to the arid winter-rainfall regions of South Africa—Namaqualand, the Richtersveld, and the Karoo. Summer-dormant by adaptation, it bears leaves only in winter, then flowers spectacularly on bare leafless stems in late summer before going dormant. Its thick, pale yellowish-green succulent stems have the waxy, buttery appearance that gives it its name. Spectacular orange-red tubular flowers on tall panicles make it a prized specimen in dry gardens and succulent collections worldwide. The entire plant is highly toxic—bufadienolide compounds cause severe neurological and cardiac effects in livestock and pets—the source of the South African livestock disease known as krimpsiekte.

• Drought-tolerant
• Slow-growing
• Deciduous
• Container-friendly
• Showy-fruit

How to care for Butter Tree

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At a Glance

Fragrance

Toxicity

History

Tylecodon paniculatus grows in one of the most spectacular botanical regions on Earth—the Namaqualand and Richtersveld of South Africa's northwest coast, where winter rains produce extraordinary wildflower displays and endemic succulents crowd rocky hillsides. Dutch settlers began grazing livestock in this region from the late 17th century, and within decades they had identified a pattern: cattle, sheep, and goats that fed on the thick succulent leaves of the Botterboom developed a characteristic disease the Afrikaner farmers called krimpsiekte—'shrinking sickness' or 'cramping disease.' Animals that ingested the leaves became uncoordinated, trembled, and eventually developed progressive paralysis and died. The disease was one of the most economically significant livestock problems in the Cape Colony and later South Africa.

The toxic compounds responsible—bufadienolides, a class of steroidal compounds that affect heart and nerve function—were not identified until the 20th century. Bufadienolides are related to the cardiac glycosides of foxglove (Digitalis) but structurally distinct; they affect voltage-sensitive sodium channels in muscle tissue and can cause both cardiac arrhythmias and the motor neuron damage responsible for krimpsiekte's characteristic paralysis.

Taxonomically, Tylecodon was separated from Cotyledon in 1978 by the South African botanist Herman Jacobsen. The genus name is an anagram of Cotyledon—a clever signal that the two are closely related but distinct. T. paniculatus, the largest species in the genus, was among the first Tylecodons to attract European botanical attention; specimens reached European herbaria with early Cape collections and the species appeared in early works on Cape flora.

In cultivation, it has become a prized ornamental for collectors worldwide—the buttery stem texture, the summer deciduousness, the bare-stem orange flowers—but always with the caveat that every part is toxic.

Symbolism & meaning

Related plants

Plants with similar care

• Pink Sand VerbenaAbronia umbellata
• Drooping AgapanthusAgapanthus inapertus
• Tall Kangaroo PawAnigozanthos flavidus
• Narrowleaf MilkweedAsclepias fascicularis

Frequently asked questions