title: Hoodia flava
text: # Hoodia flava
  
  Hoodia flava is a succulent native to the Cape Province in South Africa and to Namibia. It has a unique pattern of distribution, growing inside bushes or on gravelly slopes and hills. It is commonly known as ghaap or yellow-flowered ghaap in the Afrikaans language.
  
  ## Description
  
  Leafless and branchless, H. flava grows as cylindrical green stems up to 6 inches in height and 2 inches in diameter, with 20-30 longitudinal ribs of mammillae, each one featuring a thin, brown spine on its crest. Yellow flowers appear in winter on the youngest parts of the plants near the top.
  
  ## Cultivation
  
  This plant should be watered during its growing season and then sparsely otherwise.
  
  