Species · genus Adenium · Apocynaceae

Desert Rose

Adenium obesum (Forssk.) Roem. & Schult.

Also known as: Impala Lily · Mock Azalea

Reference · A. obesum

Cultivars of A. obesum

The named forms growers keep — each with its own page, each honest about how much we know.

No named cultivars catalogued under A. obesum yet. When growers document a stable, named form, it earns its own page here.

Guide

The species-level account. Cultivar pages build on this and say where they differ.

Adenium obesum is a caudex-forming succulent that stores water in its swollen stem and rots easily if kept wet. Grow it in gritty, fast-draining mix in the brightest spot you have, and water only when the mix has dried out completely and the caudex feels slightly less firm. During cooler or darker months it may want water even less often, so err toward waiting.

Care recipe

The species record — the baseline every cultivar inherits unless it says otherwise.

Care notes are early — not yet verified

Light: ai:claude-opus-4-8
Water: ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 10-21d)
Humidity: ai:claude-opus-4-8
Soil: ai:claude-fable-5
Care: ai:claude-fable-5

Light

Direct sun

Water

≈ every 21 days

Humidity

Low — average room

Temperature

15–32 °C

Soil mix

Gritty, fast-draining cactus or succulent mix

Propagation

Seed, or cuttings (cuttings lack the swollen caudex)

Fertilizing

Dilute balanced feed monthly in spring and summer

Growth rate

Slow

Flowering

Showy pink to red trumpet blooms in bright light

ToxicityAuthoritative · species

Toxic to cats & dogs & horses

Desert rose — cardiac glycosides in the milky sap (ASPCA: toxic to cats, dogs, horses). This is where toxicity lives: every cultivar of this species inherits it and none can override it.

Reference images

Every image credited. Licenses link to their deeds.

No reference gallery yet

A few clear photos — habit, a mature leaf, a flower if it blooms — would give this page its eyes.

Add images

Sources: ai:claude-opus-4-8 · ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 10-21d) · ai:claude-fable-5 · ASPCA

Kept true by its growers

Every fact here carries its source. Grow Desert Rose yourself? What you’ve observed — how it drinks, how it holds its color, a name that’s off — is exactly what keeps this page honest. Contributions are reviewed before anything changes.