Edithcolea | |
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Edithcolea grandis flower | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Gentianales |
Family: | Apocynaceae |
Subfamily: | Asclepiadoideae |
Tribe: | Ceropegieae |
Genus: | Edithcolea N.E.Br. 1895 |
Species: | E. grandis |
Binomial name | |
Edithcolea grandis N.E.Br. 1895 | |
Synonyms [1] | |
Edithcolea sordida N.E.Br. 1895 |
Edithcolea is a monotypic genus with a single species Edithcolea grandis (Persian carpet flower). Once classified in the family Asclepiadaceae, it is now in the subfamily Asclepiadoideae of the dogbane family Apocynaceae. It is native to eastern Africa and to the Arabian Peninsula. [1]
The genus is named after Edith Cole (1859–1940). She collected the type material for this plant with Lort Philips in 1895, during a botanical expedition (1894–1895) led by Ethelbert Edward Lort Phillips (1857-1944) from Berbera to the Golis mountains in Somaliland. [2]
Edithcolea grandis is a succulent plant with leafless, richly branched, perennial and decumbent stems with a diameter of 2 to 4 cm and up to 30 cm in length (ref prota, ref Field 80). The glabrous stems are 4 or 5 angled and armed with regularly placed hard and acute spinelike teeth or tubercules. The base color of the plant varies from green to red with brownish spots.
The bisexual flowers are 8 to 13 cm in diameter and are formed near the apex of the branches. The flower consists of an outer corolla with 5 corolla lobes (petals), which are fused halfway to the center and a relatively small inner corolla. The outside or back side of the flower is yellow to green. The inside consist of a pale yellow base color with a purple-reddish pattern of spots at the outside that gradually become smaller near the inner corona, which has itself has concentric reddish lines. Long purple hairs are present at the border of the brim of the outer corolla lobes. The flower is at times described as the Persian carpet flower. The carrion-like smell of the flowers attracts flies and other insects for pollination.
The fruit (follicles) contain a large number of seeds. The oval shaped seeds bear a tuft of hairs (coma) so they can be dispersed with the wind. The smaller variant baylissiana (Lavros & Hardy) has more branched stems that are smaller in diameter (1 to 1.5 cm), shorter (10 cm) and are often spirally twisted.
Edithcolea grandis is distributed throughout the African Great Lakes region (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda), the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia, Somaliland) and Yemen (including the Socotra archipelago). The plant is found in dry and arid regions. Sometimes in full sun, but mostly partly shaded by rocks and shrubby vegetation.
The stem of Edithcolea grandis is eaten as a vegetable in Ethiopia and Somalia. (Ref prota, ref Getahuna 1974)
Edithcolea grandis is occasionally cultivated as an ornamental in desert gardens worldwide. It has a gained a reputation as a particularly difficult plant to keep because of its very specific growing needs with much light and relatively high (above 15 °C) winter temperatures. It's very susceptible to rot in combination with low temperatures.
The Asclepiadoideae are a subfamily of plants in the family Apocynaceae. Formerly, they were treated as a separate family under the name Asclepiadaceae, e.g. by APG II, and known as the milkweed family.
Ceropegia is a genus of plants within the family Apocynaceae, native to Africa, southern Asia, and Australia. It was named by Carl Linnaeus, who first described this genus in his Genera plantarum, which appeared in 1737. Linnaeus referred to the description and picture of a plant in the Horti Malabarici as the plant for which the genus was created. In 1753 he named this species as Ceropegia candelabrum. Linnaeus did not explain the etymology but later explanations stated that the name Ceropegia was from the Greek word keropegion κηροπηγɩον. This means candelabrum in Latin, which has a broader range than the modern word - "a candlestick, a branched candlestick, a chandelier, candelabrum, or also lamp-stand, light-stand, sometimes of exquisite workmanship".
Hoya is a genus of over 500 accepted species of tropical plants in the dogbane family, Apocynaceae. Most are native to several countries of Asia such as the Philippines, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Polynesia, New Guinea, and many species are also found in Australia.
Stapeliinae is a subtribe of flowering plants within the tribe Ceropegieae of the subfamily Asclepiadoideae of the family Apocynaceae. The subtribe comprises about 35 genera, including both the stem-succulent "stapeliads" and the horticulturally popular genera Brachystelma and Ceropegia. The largest number of genera are native to Africa, but a more limited number of genera are widespread in Arabia and Asia. Historically, a similarly circumscribed taxon was treated as a separate tribe, Stapelieae.
The genus Huernia consists of perennial, stem succulents from Eastern and Southern Africa and Arabia, first described as a genus in 1810.
Pachypodium bicolor is a species of plant in the family Apocynaceae.
Ceropegia stapeliiformis is a flowering plant in the genus Ceropegia (Apocynaceae), native to South Africa and Eswatini. Common names include serpent ceropegia, snake creeper, and slangkambro.
Duvalia is a succulent plant genus in the subfamily Asclepiadoideae, in the family Apocynaceae (dogbane).
Cynanchum viminale is a leafless succulent plant in the family Apocynaceae. The species is native to West Africa, the Indian Ocean and Western Pacific region. The species' natural range extends from South Africa throughout much of Africa and the Middle East to India, Indochina, Southern China, Indomalaya and into Meganesia. The species is also found on several Indian Oceans islands including Mauritius, Réunion and the Seychelles.
Tabernaemontana crassa is a plant in the dogbane family Apocynaceae, native to tropical Africa.
Ceropegia striata is a plant species endemic to Madagascar. It is known only from the Vavavato Massif in the central highlands, at an elevation of approximately 1800 m.
Pseudolithos is a genus of succulent flowering plants of the family Apocynaceae, indigenous to arid areas of Somalia, Yemen and Oman.
Echidnopsis is a genus of succulent, cactus-like plants in the family Apocynaceae, first described as a genus in 1871. They are native to eastern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.
Fockea multiflora, or python vine, is a plant of the dogbane family, Apocynaceae, native to Tanzania, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Angola, Botswana, Namibia, including the Caprivi Strip, and Malawi. It is a large semisucculent liana, growing to some 15m in length and up to 60 cm in diameter, found primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome.
Ceropegia candelabrum is the type species in its genus of plants, belonging the subfamily Asclepiadoideae. The Latin specific epithet candelabrum is derived from the candelabra-like appearance of the inflorescences.
Vincetoxicum lineare is a species of plant in the family Apocynaceae native to Australia. Known as the bush bean, it is an edible species of plant found in arid regions. As Rhyncharrhena linearis, the species was at one time the only species in the monotypic genus Rhyncharrhena.
Duvalia elegans is a small succulent plant species, in the family Apocynaceae. It is the type species of the genus Duvalia, and it is endemic to the Western Cape Province, South Africa.
Duvalia vestita is a small succulent plant species, in the family Apocynaceae, indigenous to the southernmost part of the Western Cape Province, South Africa.
Larryleachia perlata is a species of flowering plant the family Apocynaceae. The species is a succulent plant species. The species is considered an insufficiently known species.
Ceropegia ampliata is a flowering plant in the dogbane family Apocynaceae, native to eastern and southern Africa, including Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa, Eswatini, Botswana, and Madagascar. Common names include bushman's pipe, condom plant, and horny wonder.