Kingdom: Plantae, generally, stationary organisms which contain the green pigment chlorophyll (which accomplishes photosynthesis, the manufacture of carbohydrates from carbon dioxide and water in the presence of light), and which can have fairly unlimited cellular regeneration;

Division: Magnoliaphyta (formerly Spermatophyta), plants which reproduce via seeds rather than spores;
Class: Magnoliopsida (formerly Angiospermae), at least 250,000 named species of true flowering plants whose ovules are enclosed in carpels [with fossil evidence since at least the early Cretaceous Period, 146 to 97 million years ago (Ma)];
Subclass: Magnoliatae (formerly Dicotyledoneae), the dicots, at least 189,000 named species in 6 to 24 orders (depending on the classification method) of plants having two seed leaves, flower parts in 4's or 5's or multiples thereof, leaves not parallel-veined, and the plant increases in thickness by way of a cambium layer (which in woody plants produces annual rings);

Family: Portulacaceae Juss., the mostly herb-like purslane family, with either 16 or 21 genera (Amphipetalum, Anacampseros, Baitaria, Calandrinia, Calyptrotheca, Ceraria, Cistanthe, Claytonia, Grahamia, Lenzia, Lewisia, Lyallia, Montia, Portulaca, Portulacaria, Rumicastrum, Schreiteria, Silvaea, Talinella, Talinopsis, and Talinum) having 580 named species, all with a tendency toward thick or fleshy leaves; the tropical members are shrubby, and the majority are annuals [with fossils distinct from their close Cactaceae relatives no later than the early Tertiary Period, about 60 Ma] <older view>;

Subfamily: Portulacarioideae Appleq. & R.S.Wallace, with the seven species of Portulacaria and Ceraria, is distributed in Angola, Moçambique, Namibia, Swaziland, and South Africa.  (The other two subfamilies of Didiereaceae are Calyptrothecoideae, with the two species of Calyptrotheca from the dry parts of tropical north-east Africa, and Didiereoideae, with the other 11 species in this family from semi-arid areas in Madagascar.);

Genus: Portulacaria Jacq., resembling purslane or pig weed (Portulaca oleracea, L., a notoriously weedy trailing annual or perennial salad or pot herb.  Portulaca is believed to be an import from Brazil during historical times.  But see also this for pre-Columbian existence in N America.);

Species: afra Jacq. 1787, "from Africa," the tallest growing member of this family.  Densely branched and leafy shrub to small tree 1 to 4 m tall, leaves persistent, bright green.  After the divergence of P. afra, diversification of the group took place entirely within and around the margins of the very arid Namib Desert.  (Anacampseros, Ceraria, and Talinum are the other Portulacaceae native to Africa.)

Common: [Afrikaans:] Spekboom (lit., "fat pork tree"); [Chinese (romanization):] Mă chĭ xiàn shù; translations of the Chinese: Purslane tree, jade leaf, golden branch jade leaf, green jade tree, ginkgo tree, Gongsun tree, longevity lotus, jasper lotus, small leaf glass cui, etc.; [English:] Elephant's Food, Elephant Bush, Elephant Grass, Elephant-Plant, Olifantskos; Purslane Tree; Dwarf or Tiny Leaf Jade, Baby Jade [but RJB has also seen small rooted cuttings of Crassula offered as "Baby Jade" in the garden department of the Fountain, CO Lowe's, 11/31/2008); [French:] pourpier en arbre; [German:] Speckbaum, Geldbaum, Pfennigbaum, Elefantenbaum, Strauchportulak, Jadebaum; [Portuguese:] albero dei lardo; [Ronga:] sala-ni-marumbi; [siSwati:] SiDondwane; [Spanish:] Planta de la moneda; [Venda:] Tshilepwete; [Xhosa:] unFayesele, iGwanitsha (iGqwanitsha), gya-nese [Cape]; [Zulu:] isAmbilane, inDibili-enkulu, isiDondwane, isiCococo, inTelezi, iNdibili.

The common names derive from the succulent nature of the plant's leaves and stout trunk, and also from the observation that elephants will browse upon this.  It is said that in a feeding frenzy, the pachyderms will strip off all the leaves (and smaller branches) from this plant; but within a few weeks, the branches and trunks have begun to be covered again with a mantle of green.  In fact, it forms 80% of the elephants' diet in the Addo National Park (see below).  Each pachyderm consumes an average of 200 kg of food per day, but the plant is not "destroyed" as a result of this symbiotic relationship.  In feeding, the elephant breaks off the branches, eats the succulent leaves and then discards the larger branches, which re-root themselves.

The plant known to us as Portulacaria afra was first scientifically described by Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin (1727-1817), an Austrian botanist and chemist, the most important of the younger contemporaries of Linneus (their correspondance began in 1759).  Jacquin was the first writer in German to utilize this new system of binomial nomenclature, and was foremost in his time with respect to the number of new species described precisely and in a consistent way.  He wrote at least ten major botanical works and a widely known textbook in general chemistry.  He visited the West Indies and South America (1754-1759), participating in the first scientific expeditions to Central America which were financed by the Imperial Court.  In 1768 he was appointed Professor of Botany and Chemistry and then became the second Director of the Botanical Gardens of the University of Vienna.  We have not found any evidence that Jacquin personally visited Africa.

P. afra was first illustrated from a rooted cutting in 1732 [some sources give the erroneous date of 1743] by Dr. Johann Jakob Dillenius, Oxford professor of botany, in his two-volume Hortus Elthamensis seu, plantarum rariorum quas in horto suo Elthami in Cantio coluit vir ornatissimus et praestantissimus Jacobus Sherard...Guilielmi P. M. frater, delineationes et descriptiones quarum historia vel plane non, vel imperfecte a rei herbariae scriptoribus tradita fuit (I. t. 101. f.120).   Not having flowered, it was understandably thought to be a species of Crassula.  Because of its ease of culture, it soon found its way into most of the famous gardens of Europe.  In a short 5 February 1771 letter to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Linneaus himself mentions that "Crassula Portulacaria har blommat i Italien; ar ett species af Claytonia" ("Crassula Portulacaria has blossomed in Italy, it is a species of Claytonia).  It is not known which Italian site had this honor.  Jacquin in 1786 [some sources give the erroneous date of 1789] published the first colored illustration of it, with flowers, in his Collectanea ad botanicam, chemiam, et historiam naturalem spectantia, cum figuris in Vienna (1:160-162, [b&w here] image on 406).  Therein he referred to it as an elegant shrub ("Elegantissima haec arbuscula").  Who brought the specimen(s) Jacquin classified and when?  One specimen -- presumably in a greenhouse -- is recorded as having flowered in Vienna in the year of the French Revolution (1789).  How did it end up in Vienna and what happened to it?  Are there any plants alive today which can be traced back to cuttings from that tree?  (Jacquin also named 32 genera, 23 species within those, and 169 other species plus another 8 varieties or subspecies.  Monocots, dycots, and cycads were in his descriptions.  Possibly his two most widely recognized named specimens are Ulmus parvifolia Jacq., the Chinese Elm, and Zinnia elegans Jacq., the common zinnia.)

William Aiton's 1789 Hortus kewensis, or, A catalogue of the plants cultivated in the Royal Botanic Garden Kew lists Portulacaria afra aka Purslane-tree, on pg. 379, stating that the specimen "Cult. 1732, by James Sherard, M.D.  Dillen elth. 120."  James Sherard (1666-1738) in 1721 had brought the aforementioned German botanist Johann Jacob Dillenius to England and, in 1732, he published Dillenius' illustrated 2-volume catalog of Sherard's rare plant collection at Eltham.  It was "the most important book to be published in England during the eighteenth century on the plants growing in a private garden" and a major work for the pre-Linnaean taxonomy of South African plants, notably the succulents of the Cape Province.  It is not known how or when Sherard acquired his P. afra specimen, although he did make several trips to continental Europe in search of seeds for his garden, which soon became recognized as one of the finest in England.  Are there any plants alive today which can be traced back to Sherard's garden?  Could the Italian and Vienna specimens be traced back to Eltham?  It seems possible that Sherard acquired his specimen from someone connected with the Dutch Cape Colony which had been in the area of what we now know as Cape Town since 1652.  (The British wouldn't have a claim to the area before 1795.)

The 1807 edition of German botanist Friedrich Gottlieb Dietrich's Vollständiges Lexicon der Gärtnerei und Botanik oder alphabetische Beschreibung vom Bau, Wartung und Nutzen aller in- und ausländischen, ökonomischen, officinellen und zur Zierde dienenden Gewächse included Portulacaria afra on pp. 467-468.  The sources for its info are given as "Portulacaria afra. Jacq. Collect. 1, t. 22. Ufeisanifcher(?) Portulacbaum. Engl. Purslane-tree.  Claytonia Portulacaria. Mant. 211.  Crassula Portulacaria. Spec. pl. 406. Dill. elth. t. 101, f. 120."

The 1809 edition of French botanist René Louiche Desfontaines' "Histoire des arbres et arbrisseaux qui peuvent être cultivés en pleine terre sur le sol de la France" lists Portulacaria afra on pg. 94.  Sources for its info are given as "P. afra JACQ. Collect. 1, p. 160, t. 22. -- DECAND. Pl. succ. n. 132, Ic. -- Claytonia Portulacaria LIN. Mant. 2, p. 211 -- DILL. Eltham. t. 101, f. 120."

In 1852, the first printed nursery catalogue of the botanical gardens at the Escola Medico-Cirurgica of Lisbon -- established in 1825 -- was published with 1783 numbered entries for plants.  Portulacaria afra is #597 and is listed on pg. 69.

Henry Prestoe's 1870 Catalog of Plants Cultivated in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Trinidad, from 1865-1870 (established in 1818) lists Portulacaria afra on pg. 6.

The 1895 edition of the "Catalogue of plants in the Government Botanic Gardens, Sydney, New South Wales" (established in 1816) lists Portulacaria afra on pg. 9.

From South Africa, where it grows, often in abundance in the drier parts of the Eastern Province -- especially on the high plateau Karoo hill slopes or flats (c. 400 to 1,060 meters above sea level) -- and is particularly prominent in the Addo bush to the south where there is tremendous summer heat.  Its overall range extends from the coast to elevations of 1,400 m (Guralnick, 2017).

The Addo Elephant National Park is situated in the Eastern Cape Province 72 km by road from Port Elizabeth.  Proclaimed in 1931 to save the last 11 survivors of the once numerous Eastern Cape elephants, the park consists of 12,126 hectares -- 30,315 acres -- of gently undulating Valley Bushveld dominated mostly by the Spekboom, which covers approximately 80% of the park area.  (Per Archibald, pg. 141, a survey in the early 1950s concluded that Spekboom covered "more than 90 per cent. of the total area" of [what was at that time] an approximately 17,000 acre park.)  Some 500 species of plants are to be found in the park.  Elephants eat P. afra from the top downwards allowing the plant to spread itself vegetatively by spreading horizontal branches at ground level.  Outside the park the same plants are eaten by goats who eat the plant from ground level upwards preventing the plant from spreading vegetatively.  Consequently these plants must rely solely on seed to proliferate the species which often proves difficult in such a dry climate.  As a result it was observed that inside the park where the plant is subjected to browsing by elephants, Portulacaria afra survives and spreads successfully, whereas outside the park the plant is becoming sparse as a result of overgrazing and poor regeneration.

The Spekboom Succulent Thicket (aka Spekboomveld) is an area of some 5,011 sq.km. (about 1,935 sq. miles), 1.76% of which is conserved in some reserves such as at Graaff Reinet and on higher altitude slopes.  The steep mountain slopes in the Eastern Cape and the eastern parts of the Western Cape receive perhaps 250 to 750 mm (9.8 to 29.5 inches) of rainfall per year, mainly in the autumn and spring.  Temperatures are moderate, although extremes may be experienced for short periods.  The thicket occurs on sandstone, quartzitic and shale substrata, which gives rise to shallow soils.  Spekboom can form pure stands, but usually dominates (90%) a dense scrub which includes woody shrubs, succulent herbs and grasses.

Very common in some places, though much more so in days past before overgrazing almost exterminated it in some areas.

It occurs on the eastern areas of the country from the Eastern Cape northwards into KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland, Mpumalanga and the Northern Province in rocky areas of dry succulent karoo scrub, thicket and bushveld.  It also occurs in dry hot river valleys of the eastern Transvaal, through Swaziland and north into Mozambique an uncertain distance. 

The Spekboom River, in the Lydenburg district, is named for the plant and not vice versa.

When was the plant first discovered by Europeans and given its common names?  When was it first brought to Europe and North America?

It is not known what the nearest fossil relative was.  It is not known if there have been any botanical "cousins" which have become extinct contemporary to neighboring indigenous human populations.  It is not known what the largest pre-historical dispersion of P. afra was.  It is not known what any of the local myths are regarding the origin of this plant.   (The truly native human population of the area is a Stone-Age culture dating back some 20,000 years.)

It is not known how old the current most senior specimen of this plant is or where that is located.  A photo from early 2011 shows Jim Smith trimming a specimen that is alleged to be 300 years old, per a caption from its Facebook circulation.  In truth, "[I]t started its training [emphasis added] in 1978 when it was collected from an urban garden in Vero Beach, FL.  At that time the trunk was only about 2" wide."  Thus, the tree was in training for 32 years.

The tree shown at the top of this page was in training from at least 1983-2007 (24 years), with an estimated final age for the plant being about 55 years.

P. afra has a long garden history in South Africa, and was introduced into Dutch and English gardens more than two centuries ago.  (The Dutch founded Cape Town at Table Bay on the southwestern tip of the continent in 1652.  The first large-scale British settlement was established in 1820 some 900 km away to the northeast and 40 km inland in the eastern coastal region at a place which was the garrison of Fort Graham and would be eventually called Grahamstown.  Less than 50 km to the southwest of that site is the aforementioned Addo bush.)

1812 - 23 March, Five miles from Cold Station, possibly at about Suurplaas, 54 km north northwest of Graaff-Reinet:
"We arrived at a branch of the Garst (Barley) River [? Gats River]..."
The descent from here was very steep.  "Here we found trees of a larger size than we had seen for some time, and the deep glens and bold sides of the mountain were rendered verdant by an abundance of large bushes of spekboom [Portulacaria afra] and were well covered with wood of rich and beautiful foliage..." [2:133]
Burchell, W.J. Travels in the interior of southern Africa, Vol. 2, 1824.  [1967: facsimile reprint.  Struik, Cape Town]

1816 - 2 April, Bethelsdorp:
"Not a tree is to be seen except two or three ragged spekbooms [spekboom, Portulacaria afra] standing before Mr. Read's house [in charge of the mission], and scarcely a blade of grass.  The hills enclosing the small kloof near the village are completely barren and their outlines tame and uninteresting." (pg. 207)
La Trobe, C.I. Journal of a visit to South Africa in 1815-1816, Seely, London, 1818 (edn 1), Seely, London, 1820 (edn 2).  (1969: facsimile reprint.  Struid, Cape Town)

1823 - "PORTULACA'RIA (Bot.) a genus of plants, Class 5 Pentandria, Order 3 Trigynia.
Generic Character.  CAL. perianth two-leaved; leaflets roundish, ovate. -- COR. petals five, obovate. -- STAM. filaments five, awl-shaped; anthers erect. -- PIST. germ three-cornered, superior; style none; stigmas three. -- PER. none; seeds single.
Species.  The single species is the Portulacaria afra, Claytonia, Crassula, seu Anacampseros." (pg. POR)
Crabb, George  Universal technological dictionary or familiar explanation of the terms used in all arts and sciences:containing definitions drawn from the original writers : in two volumes (London: Baldwin, Cradock & Joy; Volume 2).

1829 - Grahamstown to the Kap River:
"The last week has to me been one of delightful excitement.  I have rode over 350 miles, have been amidst new scenes, new trees, new flowers, new animals, and a new people.  The country through which we passed... is totally different from that about the Cape, being covered with grass which is, after rain, of the richest green, and large tracts frequently bear a striking resemblance to English park scenery; wanting, indeed, its forest-trees, for the timber in the open country does not rise to any size, but fully atoning for this want by the beauty and variety of its shrubs and flowers; the palm-like Euphorbia with its naked trunk; the mimosa [Acacia karoo] with its delicate green, rich yellow blossom, and large milk-white thorn; different jasmines with white clustering flowers relieved by their dark foliage; the spek-boom [Portulacaria afra], food for the elphant almost hid by the ivy geraniums [Perlargonium peltatum] rising to its top and crowning it with purple blossoms; the various parasitical plants; the uncouth aloes and all those strange unnatural snake-like plants that creep along the ground, and are known to your greenhouses..." (pg. 70)
Rose, C. Four years in South Africa (Colburn & R. Bentley, London, 1829).

1834 - "The spekboom, with its light green leaves and lilac blossoms." (vi. 209)
"Browsing on the succulent spekboom, which clothed the skirts of the hills." (vii. 248)
Pringle, Thomas  African Sketches

1836 - August, "The village [in Graaff-Reinet] is sheltered on each side by high conical mountains decorated with perpetual verdure which is derived from the abundance of spek-boom [Portulacaria afra] that covers the rocky declivities." (pg. 18)
Harris, W.C. The wild sports of sourthern Africa (Murray, London, 1839.  [1963: facsimile reprint of the fifth edition (1851).  Struik, Cape Town]).

1838 - 27 March: "I observed these aloes again today in great abundance in the Bush country near the Gauritz River... Here, a traveller proceeding eastward first meets with many of the singular forms of vegetation which characterize that province, such as the succulent, leafless, thorny Euphorbia,, the spekboom Portulacaira afra which is the favourite food of the elephant, the boerboontjes, Schotia speciosa [Schotia afra], a leguminous shrub with beautiful scarlet flowers growing in clusters out of the old wood, the noojeboom [nooieboom], Cussonia spicata a small tree of very singular appearance..." (pg. 101)
6 April: "[At the Camtoos River] begins the proper region of the spekboom [Portulacaria afra], the boerboontjes Schotia afra], the succulent euphorbias, and many other curious shrubs which may be considered characteristic of the eastern province, though a detachment, as it were, of them is found on the banks of the Gauritz." (pg. 118)
12 April: From Uitenhage to Addo Drift:
"...over a hilly country covered for the most part with low but thick 'bush,' the soil is hard clay.  Though the general appearance of this kind of country is in some degree monotonous, yet its rich and singular vegetation is very attractive to the eye of the naturalist.  The strange stiff gaunt forms of the leafless euphorbias... the aloes with their spear-like leaves and tall scarlet spikes; the pale green foliage of the spekboom Portulacaria afra which is said to be the favourite food of the elephant; the crassulas covered with milk-white blossoms; the cotyledon with its bluish leaves and bright red flowers; the scarlet geraniums [Perlargonium inquinans] peeping from amongst the other shrubs -- altogether form a combination extremely interesting to the botanist and which must strike every traveller of ordinary habits of observation by its dissimilarity to anything that is to be seen in other countries.  There cannot, indeed, be a vegetation more peculiar or of a more marked character.
"This tract of bush is of great extent.  From the Van Stade's Mountains on the southwest of Uitenhage it stretches, with few breaks by the Sundays and Bushmans Rivers, and the Zuureberg, to the banks of the Fish River along both sides of which it forms a belt of several miles wide." (pg. 125)
Bunbury, C.F.J. Journal of a residence at the Cape of Good Hope with excursions into the interior, and notes on the natural history and the native tribes (John Murray, London, 1848).

1838 - 25 October, From Roodebergen [23 km southeast of Ladismith] to the Swartberge en route to Zoar:
"Between this place and the Zwartbergen we came at no water... but on the hills there was a considerable qantity of Portulacaria afra, or spek-boom, a tree with succulent leaves that are slightly acid, which supply both food and moisture to the horned cattle." (pg. 114)
1839 - 9 January, From Fort Brown, 20 km north northeast of Grahamstown, to the boundary of Albany on the Koonap River:
"Our road now lay along a narrow path in some places very stony and through thick bush, chiefly of the spekboom [Portulacaria afra], but in which were growing an entire-leaved jasmine with eight cleft flowers, Jasminium capense [Jasminium angulare], a magnificent aloe allied to Aloe serrata [identity unknown] and several species of Euphorbia.  Sometimes we emerged in grassy hollows where we saw some wild Guinea-fowl.  After passing under a high cliff on the bank of the Fish River... and crossing the Kunap... not now flowing... we halted for the night at Tomlinson's Post, another small military station." (pg. 180)
Backhouse J. A narrative of a visit to the Mauritius and South Africa (Hamilton, Adams & Co., London, 1844).

1841 - "But there was on the hills a considerable quantity of spek-boom, (i.e. fat-tree,) a shrub with succulent leaves, slightly acid, which supply both food and moisture to the horned cattle." (pg. 24)
Extracts from the Letters of James Backhouse: Whilst Engaged in a Religious Visit to Van Diemen's Land, New South Wales, and South Africa, Accompanied by George Washington Walker (London: Harvey and Darton, Vol. II)

1843 - "...The next day (March 27) I observed these plants [Aloes] in great abundance in the Bush country near the Gauritz river.  This was a sort of country quite new to me, and might be considered as a foretaste of what we afterwards saw on an immensely larger scale in the eastern province.  Here, in fact, a traveller proceeding eastward first meets with many of the singular forms of vegetation which characterize that province; such as the succulent, leafless, thorny Euphorbias, the Spekboom [Portulacaria afra], the Boerboontjes [Schottia speciosa], the Najeboom [Cussonia spicata], of which I shall afterwards have occasion to speak more fully.  Many of these forms do not occur again till we cross the Camtoos.  The wild rough shrubbery of these plants, which forms a belt of some miles in width on both sides of the Gauritz, is much less dense than the eastern Bush; the soil appeared to be a crumbled shale or slaty clay..." (pg. 23)
"April 12 - ...The strange, stiff, gaunt forms of the leafless Euphorbias, which suggest the idea of some monstrous Indian idols; the Aloes, with their spear-like leaves, and tall scarlet spikes; the pale green foliage of the Spekboom [Portulacaria Afra] which is said to be the favourite food of the Elephant; the Crassulas, covered with milk-white blossoms; the Cotyledon, with its bluish leaves and bright red flowers; the scarlet Geraniums peeping from amidst the other shrubs, altogether form a combination extremely interesting to a botanical eye, and which must strike every traveller of ordinary habits of observation, by its dissimilarity to anything that is to be seen in other countries.  There cannot indeed be a vegetation more peculiar or of a more marked character." (pg. 36)
Bunbury, C.J.F., Esq. "Botanical Excursions in SOUTH AFRICA," The London Journal of Botany, 1843, Vol. II.

1843 - "One of the most valuable shrubs...is the spek-boom (portulacaria afra).  It is found in great abundance on the stony ridges and affords excellent food for those large flocks of sheep, and especially of goats...  In severe droughts this bush is truly invaluable."
Cape of Good Hope Almanac.

1844 - "Before reaching the Roodeberg [Hoek Fontein, Red-mountain-corner Fountain], which is Red Sandstone, enclosing boulders, a man who had accompanied us from our lodging-place, left us: he took another of the many roads which cross this desert country in various directions, to farms situated wherever a little water / is to be found. -- Between this place and the foot of the Zwartebergen, Black Mountains, we came at no water, and the day was intensely hot; but on the hills there was a considerable quantity of Portulacaria afra, or Spek-boom, Fat-tree, a shrub with succulent leaves that are slightly acid, which supply both food and moisture to the horned cattle." (pp. 113-114)
Backhouse, James  A Narrative of a Visit to the Mauritius and South Africa (London: Hamilton, Adams; 1844, Vol 2).

1850 - "One vast jungle of dwarfish evergreen shrubs and bushes, amongst which the speckboom was predominant." (12/1)
Cumming, R.G.  A Hunter's Life in South Africa (1902).

1852 - "The eastern zone [of the cone-shaped mass of land which constitutes the promontory of the Cape] is often furnished with mountains, well wooded with evergreen succulent trees, on which neither fire nor droughts can have the smallest effect ('Strelitzia', 'Zamia horrida', 'Portulacaria afra', 'Schotia speciosa', 'Euphorbias', and 'Aloes arborescens'); and its seaboard gorges are clad with gigantic timber." (Chapter 5)
Livingstone, David  Missionary Travels (1857).

1877 - "The Portulacaria Afra is the 'Spekboom' of the Cape of Good Hope, said to be the favourite food of the elephant.  It is one of the numerous forms which confer a peculiar physiognomy on the vegetation of the Colony: --
     "The strange, stiff, gaunt forms of the leafless, which suggest the idea of some monstrous Indian idols; the Aloes, with their spear-like leaves and tall scarlet spikes; the pale-green foliage of the Spekboom; the Crassulas, covered with milk-white blossoms; Cotyledon, with its bluish leaves and bright red flowers, form a combination extremely interesting, which must strike every traveller of ordinary habits of observation, by its dissimilarity to anything that is seen in other countries.  There cannot indeed be a vegetation more peculiar or of a more marked character." (pg. 46)
Allnutt, Henry  The Cactus and Other Tropical Succulents (London: Estates Gazette Office).

1877 - "The hills are clothed with spekboom and other nourishing trees and shrubs." (pg. 479)
Brown, John Croumbie  Water Supply of South Africa, and Facilities for the Storage of It (Oliver & Boyd).

1878/9 - "C'est le pays des Mesembrianthemum, des Crassulacées, Stapéliées, Aloïnées, Euphorbiacées ; on y trouve aussi des Composées, Asclépiadées, Apocynées; un Ipomoea pourvu d'une immense tige souterraine subéreuse, et la Portulacaria afra ou Spek-boom, buisson étrange à feuilles charnues et acides."
("It is the country of Mesembrianthemum, Crassulaceae, Stapeliae, Aloes, Euphorbiaceae; there are also Compositae, Asclepiadaceae, Apocynaceae; a corky morning glory equipped with a vast underground stem, and Portulacaria afra or Spek-boom, a strange bush with acid and fleshy leaves.") (pg. 22
Bulletin de la Société botanique de France, vol. 26, January-June 1879, from review of Distribution of South African Plants by M. Harry Bolus in The Cape Argus, 5 Novembre 1878.

1879 - "The spek-boom, from which the river takes its name, grows here in great profusion." (pg. 186).
Atcherley, Rowland J.  A Trip to Boerland.

1880 - "Portulacaria Afra, Jacquin.
South Africa.  Called Spekboorn [sic].  Affords the principal food for elephants; thus this succulent shrub may deserve naturalisation on stony ridges and in sandy desert land, as likely nourishing to sheep." (pg. 257).
von Mueller, Ferdinand  Select extra-tropical plants readily eligible for industrial culture or naturalisation: with indications of their native countries and some of their uses (Off. of the superintendent of government printing.

1891 - "The spekboom, which is a good-sized shrub, sometimes attaining the height of fifteen or twenty feet, grows plentifully a little way up the mountains; and in very protracted droughts, when the karroo and other bush of the plains begin at last to fail, it is our great resource for the ostriches, which then ascend for the purpose of feeding on it; and though they do not care for it as they do for their usual kinds of food, it is good and nourishing for them.  Elephants are very fond of the spekboom, but though a few of these animals are still found near Port Elizabeth, there are fortunately none in our neighbourhood to make inroads on the supplies reserved for the ostriches against what certainly in South Africa cannot be called "a rainy day."  The spekboom has a large soft stem, very thick, round, succulent leaves, and its clusters of star-shaped, wax-like flowers are white, sometimes slightly tinged with pink." (pg. 51)
Martin, Annie  Home Life on an Ostrich Farm (New York: D. Appleton and Company).

1893 - "...The gaunt leafless Euphorbia; the Aloe, with its spear-like leaves and tall scarlet spikes; the spiny palm-like Zamia; the Spekboom, with its pale green foliage and bright blossoms; the elephant's foot, the Strilitzia, the ivy-geranium, the Plumbago, and numerous other shrubs and flowering plants, make their appearance, whose strange and peculiar forms at once strike the eye..." (pg. 18).
Noble, John (ed.)  Illustrated Official Handbook of the Cape and South Africa: A Résumé of the History, Conditions, Populations, Productions, and Resources of the several Colonies, States, and Territories  (First published under the title: Official handbook. History, productions, and resources of the Cape of Good Hope) (Cape Town & Johannesburg: J.C. Juta & Co.).

1893 - "As we got lower down the valley, there were masses of spekboom (Portulacaria afra) with thick swollen stems and branches (like gutta-percha tubing badly put together), covered with small green fleshy leaves and tiny pink flowers.  It is the pet food of elephants..."
"The railway took me through the Addo Bush: a flat, swampy locality, full of spekboom trees, which are said to tempt the elephants down close to civilization, and herds of them are still found there." (Chapter XIV)
North, Marianne  Recollections of a Happy Life.

1895 - "The Cape Gardens have hitherto had little to do with the introduction and distribution of economic plants or the dissemination of information respecting such subjects for the use of the general community.  What has been attempted in this direction was owing entirely to the personal efforts of the curators.  The following extract from Professor MacOwan's Report for 1883, pp. 3-4, shows how much more might have been accomplished if the funds at his command had allowed:
     "The garden has been able to supply many demands made upon it by similar institutions at home and abroad and numerous private collectors, for things scarcely in the usual run of trade supply, partly gratis and partly by sale...  Several enterprising cultivators are now, at our suggestion, trying to multiply the thornless Opuntia and the spek-boom in Namaqualand, Angra Pequena, and elsewhere.  I think these excellent food plants have not received the attention they deserve.  Of course they are special food plants, suited to special localities, and do not come into competition with the ordinary veldt-bosjes and grass wherever the climatic conditions permit the usual pasturage.  But I am sure that should the spek-boom be incapable of acclimatisation on the sun-smitten randts of Namaqualand, the Opuntia may be grown in vast thickets at the junction of rock and sand veldt, and its use would save much of the present expenditure in importing compressed hay for trek-cattle.  Such culture throughout all karroid districts of the Colony subject to frequent failure of seasonable rains is far more important than the introduction of any more of the fancy staples which are from time to time proposed, praised, and forgotten, and which have given point to the proverbial sneer that 'the Cape is a country of samples.'  I wish it could be added that these supplies and others to the Government Forest Department were all made gratis.") (pg. 50)
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, JSTOR (Organization)  Kew Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information, March 1895, No. 99 (London: H.M. Stationery Office).

1896 - "Spek-boom, Portulacaria afra, Jacq., is a fleshy, rounded-leaved, scrubby, soft-wooded tree or bush, which is recognised as a very valuable food plant for sheep, cattle, and even horses.  Successful efforts have been made to grow it in Namaqualand from cuttings.  As these are liable to rot when put in green and newly severed, they should be spread out for a fortnight to allow the wounds to dry.  Where animals are well fed and pampered, they sometimes lose taste for this excellent natural food.  In the neighbourhood of Oudtshoorn, on a farm where, in the spring of 1895, ostriches were dying in hundreds, clumps of spek-boom were within easy reach, but the birds would not touch it, having been accustomed to feed on lucerne.  Nevertheless, when birds are brought up to eat it they thrive well, and seem fond of it.  The spek-boom is a bush which recovers rapidly from the injury done by too close browsing by stock, if a season's respite be granted to it.  When spek-boom and the Mesembrianthemum floribundum are present, stock care but little about their daily visits to the water-vlei." (pg. 88)
Wallace, Robert  Farming Industries of Cape Colony (London: P.S. King and Son; Cape Town: J.C. Juta and Co.).

1899 - (following the scientific description is this:)  "Drawn and described from specimens in flower on Berea [a ridge above the northwest side of Durban], October, 1898.
     "The genus Portulacaria includes two species only, the one here described which is also found in some parts of the Cape Colony, and P. namaquensis, which, as the name implies, is a native of Namaqualand.  P. afra has, we understand, been exported to Algeria [on the north end of the African continent, some 4100 miles or 6700 km away], and Australia [approx. 6300 miles or 10,200 km away] as a browsing plant for cattle and sheep, and is said also to be a valuable food for ostriches, but it does not seem to find much favour for cattle feeding in Natal.  The leaves are sour, and have been used for culniary purposes.  It is known to the Dutch colonists as 'Spekboom' and to Natal colonists as 'Elephant food.'
     "Fig. 1, Branch with leaves and flowers, natural size ; 2, Flower and buds in situ ; 3, Section of flower ; 4, Stamen ; 5, Calyx, ovary and stigmas ; all enlarged."

1902 - "I should be obliged if you can furnish me with the following information:--
     "Spekboom.--Can this plant be grown extensively as a fodder say in drills under cultivation?  Would the plant benefit by irrigation and produce a heavy yield of green foilage per acre?  Have you any advice of spekboom being grown in the Stormberg, and could you provide me with information as to conditions and surroundings best suited to its propagation and growth?  I should be glad if you can inform me as to the person to procure a quantity of cuttings from.
     "Paspalum Grass.--Is good reliable seed procurable in the Colony?

G. L. PEACOCK.

E. P.

1902 - "I have before me papers showing the desire of Australians to get help by the introduction of some of our best stock-feeding, drought-resisting native plants, and surely, for helping in a drought-tried land, they could hardly apply to a better country than South Africa ; one that, for countless ages, has had the grand work of evolution trying all forms severely, so that the fact of survival points at once to the adapted value of our native Karroo flora.  Mr. J. H. Maiden, Government Botanist at Sydney, advocates the introduction of spekboom.  Curiously enough, the information sent him by our Conservator of Forests, has these words:--' Spekboom is the universal name in South africa, not the Boer name, as you put it.'  Then it is said by Mr. Maiden: ' The natural home of the spekboom is in the Karroo;' and he is told by Mr. Hutchins in return: ' I do not think it grows in the Karroo.'  That spekboom is native to the Karroo is well known to all who know anything about it.  The earlier occupiers of Karroo were Dutch, and the fact that they gave the name to the bush, when they first met with it in the Karroo, is of itself good proof that the spekboom is native to the Karroo; and colonists after them have very naturally called the plant by the name given to it by the Dutch pioneers.  Spekboom is widely distributed over the Karroo, not so much on the flats as on the rands or hills--rugged, stony crests showing up everywhere about the so-called Karroo plains--crests that often carry special plants, because the intruded dykes below cause them to give soil different to much of the flats around them.
     "Spekboom is, therefore, very widely distributed and is very much valued, not alone as a stock food, but because it makes more useful to the animal the drier and more woody veldt plants they feed on with it.  So valued is it that you rarely see if left out of the list of good things that are advertised to recommend a farm when it is for sale.  Coastwards too, in some localities--as Mr. Hutchins says--it is abundant.  In the bush which the railway traverses about Addo, and the northern slopes of the Zuurberg, it is, when in blossom, a pretty and common feature.  It is said to be different to our Karroo form, and not cared for by stock so much.  It is not a different variety, but the preference of stock for a certain food depends much upon locality and surroundings.  Our dry Karroo makes a feed of succulent bush, such as spekboom, very appetising when found.  On the slopes of the mountains around Graaff Reinet it is abundant.  Our climate suits it well, being over over 2,500 feet above sea-level, and frosts are rare.
     "I should be very sorry for our Karroo farmers if spekboom were not a native plant, and a very good native too, of the Karroo veldt.
     "[1010]  Our Australian friends think they will be helped by the introduction of this valuable stock-food.  I feel sure our farmers will respond to help them.  There are difficulties ; the seed is peculiar, and very short-lived in transport.  Mr. C. E. Lee, of Klipplaat, has taken great interest in spekboom propagation by cuttings.  He says they should not be less than 2 inches in diameter, and are better for keeping 30 days, before planting, in dark, cool, dry place.  Such cuttings should stand export well.  The spekboom, like most other succulents, does not part with its moisture easily, and does not dry out quickly ; so that when a fair-sized branch falls on the ground, if the ground is at all favourable, it will take root like a prickly pear.  The facts point to cuttings as the means of helping the plant to Australia.
     "I should like these notes on the introduction of spekboom to Australia to have a practical outcome, and should be glad to communicate with any Australians in the country who have friends at home interested in farming pursuits, and to receive any sggestions on how to get the cuttings to Australia.  Packed loosely in wood shavings in an ordinary case they would travel well, although the leaves would drop off.  But experience has shown that a dexterous gardener can strike little plants from the leaves in sand, and so largely increase the number of plants sent over as cuttings.  The coast spekboom is considered more brack in flavour, and is not so much relished by stock.  But probably the difference in soil and climate has much to do with this, as Mr. Lee informs me that the brack cuttings, when cultivated in the Karroo, are eaten by the stock as readily as is the other.  If this is correct, then cuttings from the coastal plants might be safely taken.
     "I trust that the authorities will help when the transports carry men to Australia, and so speed the plough, or rather, spread the spekboom.--WILLIAM ROE, senior, Graaff Reinet, Cape Colony.--[We shall be glad to be the medium of correspondance as suggested by Mr. Roe.--EDITOR.]--(Agricultural Journal of the Cape of Good Hope, May 8th, 1902, [pp. 556-557.])

"MR. MAIDEN furnishes the following note on the above letter:--
'The articles of mine are referred to are entitled--' A fodder-plant for the arid interior (Portulacaria afra, Jacq.),' which appered in the Gazettes for July, 1897, p. 450 ; and for October, 1901, p. 1200.  I do not think it necessary to take advantage of Mr. Roe's very kind offer to send spekboom cuttings to Australia, as we have it well established in New South Wales.  My offer to supply cuttings was not freely availed of, and not one correspondent has reported his experience with the plant to me.  I simply do not understand the apathy of our people in regard to the introduction of new plants, except on the ground that they have been humbugged so often with wonderful plants simply boomed to sell.  Mr. Roe's letter is an instance of the cordiality of the Cape people towards us, and we thank him for it.'"
"The Spekboom for Australia," Agricutural Gazette of New South Wales (Edited by W.H. Clarke, By Authority: Sydney: W.A. Gullick, Government Printer); Vol. XIII, Part 10, October, pp. 1009-1010.

1907 - "The surrounding pastoral country is usually covered with good grazing grass, and the edible bush, the native spekboom, is frequently met with in the kloofs."  (Under "Queenstown", pg. 209)
Burton, Alfred Richard Edward  Cape Colony To-day (Cape Town: Townshend, Taylor & Snashall).

1908 - "...in the primary cortex of Portulacaria afra, Jacq. [leaves], the green cells form a network between the large, colourless cells." pg. 111).
"Oxalate of lime occurs in three forms, as clustered crystals, as solitary crystals (which, according to Becker, belong to the tetragonal system), and as crystal-sand.  In the leaf, Becker observed clustered crystals alone in Calyptridium, Lewisia, Monocosmia, Portulaca, Portulacaria, and Talinum, clustered crystals and solitary crystals in Anacampseros and Spraguea, and a peculiar crystal-sand, consisting, according to my own investigation, of small needles and small prismatic crystals, in Calandrinia.  At the same time it may be added, that in the stem oxalate of lime is met with in the form of clustered crystals.  Claytonia and Montia have no deposits of oxalate of lime either in leaf or stem.  Of internal secretory elements, mucilage-cells alone occur in the Order [of Portulacaceae [sic]].  These take part in the storage of water, and, among the genera investigated by Becker, are wanting only in Montia and Claytonia.  They are met with in the leaf-tissue as well as in the ground-tissue of the stem, and are sometimes (Anacampseros and Portulacaria) of considerable size.  The contents of, the mucilage-cells in question are membrane-mucilage, according to Walliczek; further detailed investigations regarding this point are, however, desirable.  In view of such investigations it may be remarked that, according to Becker, the mucilage-cells arise very early..." (pg. 112).
"In Portulacaria afra, Jacq., the vascular bundles are separated from one another by broad unlignified medullary rays; the xylem of the former consists of wood-prosenchyma with simple pits and of tangential bands of unlignified thin-walled cells, including pitted vessels, which have delicate spiral or reticulate thickenings." (pg. 113).
Solereder, Hans and Dukinfield Henry Scott  Systematic anatomy of the dicotyledons: a handbook for laboratories of pure and applied botany, Volume 1 (Clarendon Press).

1913 - " Portulacaria afra (the spekboom) grows socially in the southeastern Karoo, extending right through to Kingwilliamstown; it is also reported from the Eastern Transvaal.  It often covers whole hills or mountain slopes with its fresh verdure, which forms a pleasant contrast to the surrounding dull coloured vegetation.  In the Addobush it is arborescent, up to 20 feet high, often forming dense thickets.  The juicy leaves are a wholesome food for all classes of stock as well as for wild animals including buffaloes and elephants; hence farms with plenty of spekboom need not fear an ordinary drought.  'Providence meant to spoil our farmers in placing the spekboom on the hills of the Karoo,' wrote MacOwan in one of his articles on the fodder plants of the country."
Marloth, Rudolf  The flora of South Africa (vol. 1)

1922 - " When the writer was in Cape Town in 1902, Prof. MacOwan called to his attention the spekboom, an important fodder tree of the karoo, and one of the trees then standing in the gardens was cut down and sent in as cuttings.  As a result several trees of this species are now growing in Santa Barbara and San Diego, Calif.  If it can be naturalized in this portion of California and become wild, as in South Africa, it will add a valuable forage asset to the hillsides of that region.  Dr. Shantz has sent in additional material with most interesting data on this important tree (Portulacaria afra, No. 48510)."
"Inventory of Seeds and Plants Imported by the Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction During the Period From November 1 to December 31, 1919, No. 61, Nos. 48427 to 49123), pg. 10 of the Introductory Statement.
    

1930 - "At Santa Cruz de Teneriffe for Christmas, 1925, and at Hotel Benitez for dinner.  Mr. Fairchild observed that all the hedges, and there were many of them, were of the Spekboom of South africa.  Portulacaria Afra being a good food for elephants Mr. MacOwen asked Mr. Fairchild when he began sending seeds and plants to America where would he get the elephants to eat it?  It was expected that the goats on the Canary Islands would relish it; at this time they had not begun to browse upon it."
Fairchild, David  Exploring for Plants (per pg. 16 of California Garden, San Diego, Vol. 22, No. 8, February 1931)

"South Africans have a saying: as long as your Spekboom (Elephant Bush) grows and prospers, so will your finances."
(Per "Variegated Elephant Shrub," http://www.sunnygardens.com/garden_plants/portulacaria/portulacaria_2367.php, but RJB has NOT yet confirmed this elsewheres.  The sunnygardens page with this quote dates at least to 26 Jun 2006.  As time goes by, additional web pages about dwarf jade plants have been including this quote -- which still hasn't been tracked down previous to sunnygardens.)