Taken as a large cutting from a landscape plant in the Summer of 2015. This Dwarf Jade, Portulacaria afra, was left in the sun for a couple of days to dry out the cut site. Then it was put into the bottom of a plastic nursery pot with a thin layer of sand and horticultural pumice to encourage wide shallow roots that would eventually fit well into a bonsai container. Also called the ‘Elephant Bush’ in its native habitat in South Africa. It is commonly grazed on by large herbivores like the African Elephant and Black Rhinoceros. This ability to recover from grazing, allows a healthy plant to be defoliated in bonsai cultivation creating an increased ramification of branches and resulting in smaller leaves.