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Stomatium agninum (Lamb's Tongue) - This succulent low growing succulent has pale green rhombodial leaves with rough dots and soft teeth near the tips and are grouped 6 to 8 in opposite pairs. Large bright yellow flowers that have a sugary scent appear in leaf axils in summer if plant is stressed.
Plant in full sun to light shade in a well-drained soil and water only occasionally. Though it does not bloom much the leaves are attractive and it makes an excellent dense groundcover for a rock garden or mixed succulent planting.
Stomatium agninum is endemic to the Eastern Cape province of South Africa and has previously been called Mesembryanthemum agninum and Agnirictus aginus. The name of the genus comes from the Greek word 'stomation' meaning "open mouth" in reference to the pairs of toothed leaf pairs that resemble a wide open mouth. The specific epithet is from the Latin word 'agninus' meaning "of a lamb or "fleecy", likely referring to its texture. This name carries over to the few common names we have uncovered such as Lamb's Tongue and Lamb's-chop. We received this plant as an unidentified mesemb from Tony Dinuzzo of Tony's Cactus Garden Nursery in Buellton, CA where he had large patches of this plant growing out in the open in full sun and enduring winter temperatures down to 20° F. We thought it was Faucaria or a species of Rabiea but finally got a plant to Steven Hammer who identified it as Stomatium agninum. He also noted that this plant was rather shy to bloom and that it can be very gray to almost silver when grown very dry.
Panayoti Kelaidis of the Denver Botanic Garden visited the nursery in the spring of 2013 and was so enamored by this plant that we made sure he took one home. A couple years later he showed a picture of it during his talk "Hardy South African Succulents for Temperate Gardens" at the 2015 Cactus and Succulent Society Annual Convention held at Pfitzer College in Claremont, California, noting it the largest form of the species that he had ever seen. We have been growing this great plant since 2003.
The information about Stomatium agninum that is displayed on this web page is based on research conducted in our nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We will also include observations made about this plant as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens that we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We also incorporate comments that we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they share cultural information that aids others growing this plant.
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