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Cyphostemma juttae (Wild grape) - A slow-growing deciduous succulent shrub that can grow up to 6 feet tall or more but is usually seen much smaller in cultivation. It has heavy swollen main stems of the type of plants that is often called a caudiciform. These stems have papery, peeling bark and at the branch tips hold large (up to 1 foot long) gray-green ovate shaped fleshy leaves with toothed margins that emerge in late spring a red-purple color and fall off during winter. The flowers are held above the foliage but are tiny and inconspicuous and followed by showy grape-like bunches of pinkish red berries towards summer end. Though these berries look like grapes, to which this plant is related, they should not be eaten as they contain toxic levels of tannic acids.
Plant in full to part sun in a well-drained soil and irrigate occasionally when in leaf - can be grown outdoors in our winter rainfall gardens but soil must drain well. Winter hardy to at least 25°F - specimen plants at our nursery withstood 3 nights down to these temperatures in the January 2007 freeze. An interesting and attractive plant in the succulent garden or as a container specimen, even relatively small pots.
Cyphostemma juttae comes from arid southern Namibia where it grows in rocky soils. The name for the genus comes from Greek words 'kyphos' meaning "hump" and stemma, meaning a "wreath" or "garland". The specific epithet honors Jutta Dinter, wife of the German botanist Kurt Dinter. Other common names include Tree Grape, Namibian Grape, Droog-my-keel and Bastard Cobas (Basterkobas) in reference to its relationship to the Kobas Tree, an original native name for Cyphostemma currorii.
Our original plants were grown on from seedlings purchased from Dick Bogart's Desert Images nursery in Ojai when it closed after his passing in 2016. Later crops were grown from seed supplied to us or collected off of mature plants onsite.
The information about Cyphostemma juttae 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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