Pachypodium is a genus of caudiciform succulents placed in the Apocynaceae family. Many of the species produce spectacular flowers. They exhibit a wide range of bizarre growth forms, from bottle-, cigar- or candelabrum-shaped trees to dwarf plants with very short stalks. Sizes range from a few centimetres above the soil to heights of more than 8 m. In southern Africa, the mystical elephant’s trunk or halfmens (Pachypodium namaquanum) is probably the best known and rarest member of the genus. Pachypodium is closely related to Adenium but distinguished from it in that the stipules at the base of the leaves are developed into long rigid spines. Pachypodiums are characteristically plants of hotter, drier regions of southern Africa and Madagascar where they reach maximum diversity in terms of numbers of species. Most species grow well in pots and rockeries. Larger species like Pachypodium geayi and Pachypodium lamerei make excellent landscaping plants too.

Pachypodium saundersii, the Kudu Lily, is an indigenous succulent plant found naturally in Southern Africa, on the Lebombo Mountains and other areas in KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Swaziland. Pachypodium saundersii is probably the easiest and fastest South African Pachypodium to grow. Pachypodium saundersii is a succulent shrub with a large stem up to 1.5m high. The exposed tuberous stem is up to 1 m in diameter and produces several narrow, thorny branches. The flowers are white, wax-like, tinged purplish pink and are borne from February to May.