Dyckia encholirioides var spinosissima

This is a smaller encholirioides that the type form and it is found in a very small area of Santa Catarina North litoral . I found this plant withing the sea water in the come and going of the waves on the sand. An unusual high tide dislodged the plant from its place an there it was. I rescued it , my spouse wife Raquel and me. This was decades ago.

It was a half a meter trunk and  thick as a man thigh. I cut of the smashed leaves and plant the thunk on a shallow ceramic  dish like basin.Today it is a pending huge three heads plant, a piece to be show in a botanic garden. 

Dyckia encholirioides lives very very close to the sea and it is always listening to the waves and watching the come and going of tides. It is never found away from the sea. It loves the scorching sun exposition and most of the times it is consorted with grasses and other plants it makes possible to live in this situation.

Its trunk, believe it or not, it is never visible. It is ever and always protected by the leaf bracteas of the death leaves. This explains its ability to survive and love  its place in nature.

The leftovers from the dead leaves enables the plant to survive the most  challenging territory. The plant takes salty sprays and scorching sun rays and  lives on exposed rocks or sandy bars.

Now we shall understand what goes on there on its trunk, a true nature´s marvel...

What is on the trunk ?

Old leaf bracts and lichen (algae and mushroom) . This lichen is a saprophytic one. it thrives on dead vegetable. It makes a protector layer and keeps the trunk within the dead bracts well protected against  heat and salt water.

This consortium, algae, mushroom and Dyckia deserves better understanding.