Pachypodium & Caudiciforms ... 3/4

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When plants are in their dormant (and leafless) stage, watering can be decreased, give them just enough to keep the roots going, and not let the plant die by letting it use up all of the internal water resevoir, from which it may not recover.
Summer dormant plants may need more water in their dormancy period as plants and soil dry out more quickly in the heat.
During the growth period treat like a cactus/succulent, and water when the soil mix has dried out from the previous watering. Water well so that water runs out the bottom of the pot, and just watch for any stagnant water at the soil level collar. If the growth period is winter, watering is a bit more tricky and you have to pick your days (a nice warm winters day!) and leave the soil mix drier a bit longer before watering again.
They are more tolerant of drought than over watering, especially larger plants with their bigger resevoirs, while smaller plants need more water in their active growing season as well as the dormancy because the resevoir is not yet at mature stage.

Grow most with the exposed caudex sitting on a couple of cms of gravel or stones to stop rot at soil level, with the roots in a well drained cactus/suculent mix so that any excess water quickly drains away - any stagnant water will lead to rotting.

The Yahoo! Fat Plants Group for discussions.

Adenium

Adenium are related to the Pachypodiums (both in Apocynaceae family), the main difference being the fact that their branches and trunks are not covered with the strong spines, they are commonly referred to as Desert Roses.
Adenium are from tropical Africa and Arabia. The species range from shrubs with caudexes, to small trees with swollen trunks and stems to 3-5m in height, but rarely exceed 1m when cultivated indoors.

They flower from early to late summer for six months or more during the year, maybe once in the warm season and once going into the winter season. Hybridisation is by artificially crossing different cultivars or different species to get new flower colours and forms. There are many named hybrids available and worth growing.

Because of the similarities between individual species, there is debate as to how many species actually exist. Some (lumpers) say most plants are varieties of the single species, Adenium obesum, while others (splitters) say there are 8-10 distinct species.

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