Adenium boehmianum Schinz
Common names: pylgif (Afr.); ouzuwo (Herero).

Occurs in dry rocky places in northern Namibia, southern Angola and Botswana at altitudes of 900-1 200 m. A deciduous succulent shrub up to 1.5 m tall. The swollen stem bears whitish grey branches, covered with dark markings of the old leaf bases. Leaves are 80-140 Í 50-80 mm and folded along the midrib, leathery in texture, paler beneath and arise towards the apex of the branches. The showy, long-tubed flowers are pink to mauve with a darker throat and are hairy on the outside. They appear from November to May (but mostly in autumn, southern hemisphere), usually together with the leaves. A plant has been successfully grown at the Pretoria National Botanical Garden since 1970.

Adenium obesum (Forssk.) Roem. & Schult.
Common name: desert rose ( Eng. ).

This extremely variable species occurs mainly north of the equator, extending southwards to Tanzania and northwards to Ethiopia, Somalia, the Arabian Peninsula and the island of Socotra. It occurs across the southern Sahara to western tropical Africa. Many of the forms included in the species have previously been described as separate species. A number of subspecies are recognized. The deciduous, succulent shrubs or small trees are 1-4 m tall. One to a few erect, smooth stems arise from a swollen base and taper towards the apex where several short, spreading to erect branches are produced. The obovate and elliptic leaves are 80-100 Í 30-35 mm, with a short petiole, and are clustered at the tips of the branches. Several flowers are borne in terminal clusters. The corolla is cup-shaped from a short cylindrical base, pink throughout and somewhat darker towards the margins of the lobes, with darker pink stripes in the somewhat paler throat. The corolla lobes are downy, bright cerise at the margins, fading to pink towards the centre. Flowering in winter. The name obesum is derived from the Latin word that means fat or fleshy, referring to the habit of the stems.

Adenium swazicum Stapf
Common names: summer-flowering impala lily, rathbonia (Eng.).

Found in open woodland, usually on sandy brackish flats in South Africa ( Mpumalanga and northern parts of KwaZulu-Natal ), Swaziland and Mozambique at altitudes of 300-400 m. It is a small shrub, up to 650 mm tall, with a large, buried, succulent stem. The stem produces several greenish white or dirty-grey branches. The simple leaves are long, tapering and smooth, 40-130 Í 7-30 mm, and borne in terminal clusters. They are often folded, broader at the apex than at the base and the midrib is prominent beneath. The flowers are pink to deep purple, darker in the throat and appear together with the leaves. Flowering occurs from January to April. A few specimens have been grown in the rockery at the Durban Botanical Garden for many years but have never been seen to set seed. Adenium multiflorum is distinguished from A. swazicum by the upper portion on the inside of the corolla that is hairy and not smooth, by the dark border on the petals and by the flowers that usually appear before the leaves (in A. swazicum the leaves and flowers appear simultaneously).