Elephant Bush

Elephant Bush (Portulacaria afra) is a popular landscaping and potted plant in Phoenix. The plant was imported to North America from South Africa, where, true to its name, wild populations of this evergreen succulent shrub are an important food source for wild elephants, as well as other wildlife. In Africa, they call it Spekboom. The cut stems of Spekboom easily regenerate into new plants, a characteristic that may have evolved as a symbiotic relationship with elephants, since they scatter plant fragments as they feed. There is some speculation by scientists that growing spekboom on a large scale may be useful to store carbon dioxide in order to reduce atmospheric level of the gas that contributes to global climate change. This would dovetail nicely with objectives to improve wildlife habitat in Africa.