A Simple INTRODUCTION TO CAUDICIFORMS
What Is a Caudiciform?
A caudiciform is unlike a leafy or stem succulent. Its most notable characteristic is an underground, water-storing reservoir that helps them survive long periods of drought. This reservoir is commonly referred to as a caudex and from it grow photosynthesizing branches with mesophytic leaves.
Caudiciforms include members of various genus from dioscoreas and pachypodiums to euphorbias and anacampseros.
A Caudex Defined
Caudex - (noun) the axis of a plant comprising of a stem and root.
A true caudiciform's caudex is more than just the axis of the plant. It is a food and water-storing organ that grows below soil level. The term has expanded throughout the years and has come to include a caudex in many forms from bulbs to tap-roots to tubers. As well as those formed through time as seen on a leuchtenbergia principis or an anacampsero.
As houseplants, caudiciforms are potted to display their unique caudex, but they grow faster when they are underground. The plant shown here is a fockea edulis with a tubular caudex typically found growing underground in their natural habitat. Its vine-like branches like climbing up and twining around each other.
Branches & Mesophytic Leaves
Caudiciforms separate jobs between their caudex and their branches and leaves. The caudex stores the water and the leaves conduct the process of photosynthesis.
A good way to understand this difference is by comparing caudiciform succulents to leafy succulents. Leafy succulents, like kalanchoes and echeverias, share the same food-processing and water-storing jobs throughout their entire anatomy. The green of their leaves process the food and with the help of mucilaginous cells they store water. If a leaf falls off a leafy succulent it doesn't wither right away. More than not it will grow roots and sprout a new plant!
The thin leaves of a caudiciform succulent have more stomata, or breathing pores, than leafy succulents and therefore lose water quickly. When a leaf falls, it withers and dies within a day or two without ever forming roots. This characteristic is mesophytic. When branches and leaves die from dehydration and extreme heat, the underground caudex survives.