Fockea

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Fockea
Fockea edulis 001.jpg
Potted Fockea edulis
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Gentianales
Family: Apocynaceae
Subfamily: Asclepiadoideae
Tribe: Fockeeae
Genus: Fockea
Endl.
Synonyms
  • Chymocormus Harv. (1842)

Fockea is a genus of succulent scrubs native to Africa south of the equator. They are members of the Asclepiadoideae (milkweeds), a subfamily of the dogbane family Apocynaceae. Of the six recognized species, only the two most widely distributed extend north of southern Africa, with F. multiflora reaching as far north as Tanzania and F. angustifolia reaching to southern Kenya. [1] Fockea are known as water roots, [2] a reference to the bulbous caudex characteristic of most species, which is also edible in at least some species.

Taxonomy

The genus Fockea Endl. was established in 1838 by the Austrian botanist Stephan Ladislaus Endlicher through illustration [3] and description [4] of a specimen of Fockea capensis collected in Cape Colony circa 1786 by Franz Boos and Georg Scholl and cultivated at Schönbrunn Garden in Vienna. [1] The genus was named in honor of the German physician and naturalist Gustav Woldemar Focke, author of the commentary De respiratione vegetabilium (Of the respiration of vegetables). [4] The “Old Lady of Schönbrunn” — the oldest potted succulent in captivity — continued to be cultivated at least through 1988, over 200 years after it was first collected by Boos and Scholl. [5] [6] It was believed to be the last surviving member of its species until the South African botanist Rudolf Marloth collected another specimen of F. capensis near Prince Albert in 1906. [1] [7]

Most Fockea species are relatively small climbers with swollen, mostly subterranean tubers, whereas Fockea multiflora , a widely distributed but exclusively tropical species, is a massive, tropical liana without a tuber. [1] [8] It is considered a sister to the other five species. Fockea angustifolia , also widely distributed, is mainly tropical, and sister to the remaining four species, which are endemic to southern Africa. [1]

Species [9] [10]
  1. Fockea angustifolia K.Schum. — A climbing tuberous geophyte found primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome, ranging from Southeast Kenya to South Africa. [11]
  2. Fockea capensis Endl. — A climbing tuberous geophyte found primarily in the subtropical biome; its native range is the southern Cape Provinces of South Africa. [12]
  3. Fockea comaru (E.Mey.) N.E.Br. - A tuberous geophyte found primarily in the desert or dry shrubland biome, ranging from southern Namibia to South Africa's Cape Provinces. [13]
  4. Fockea edulis (Thunb.) K.Schum. - A climbing tuberous geophyte found primarily in the subtropical biome, ranging from the southern Cape Provinces to KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. [14]
  5. Fockea multiflora K.Schum. - A semisucculent liana growing primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome, ranging from Tanzania to northern Namibia. [15]
  6. Fockea sinuata (E.Mey.) Druce - A climbing tuberous geophyte growing primarily in the desert or dry shrubland biome, ranging from south-central and southern Namibia to the Cape Provinces and Free State province of South Africa. [16]

Related Research Articles

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<i>Anacampseros</i> Genus of plants

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<i>Microloma</i> Genus of flowering plants

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<i>Cola</i> (plant) Genus of plants

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Motandra is a genus of plant in the family Apocynaceae native to tropical Africa. As of August 2013 the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families recognises 3 species:

  1. Motandra guineensis(Thonn.) A.DC. - widespread from Liberia to Sudan and south to Angola
  2. Motandra lujaeDe Wild. & T.Durand - Gabon, Congo, Cabinda, Equatorial Guinea, Zaire
  3. Motandra poecilophyllaWernham - Gabon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon
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  2. Motandra glabrataBaill. = Oncinotis glabrata(Baill.) Stapf ex Hiern
  3. Motandra viridifloraK.Schum. = Baissea viridiflora(K.Schum.) de Kruif
  4. Motandra welwitschianaBaill. = Oncinotis hirtaOliv.

Oncinotis is a genus of plant in the family Apocynaceae, first described as a genus in 1849. It is native to Africa, including Madagascar. As of August 2013 the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families recognises 7 species:

  1. Oncinotis glabrata(Baill.) Stapf ex Hiern - tropical Africa from Liberia to Tanzania, south to Angola
  2. Oncinotis gracilisStapf - tropical Africa from Liberia to Central African Republic, south to Angola
  3. Oncinotis hirtaOliv. - C Africa from Cameroon to Angola
  4. Oncinotis nitidaBenth. - W Africa from Liberia to Republic of Congo
  5. Oncinotis pontyiDubard - tropical Africa from Guinea to Uganda
  6. Oncinotis tenuilobaStapf - C + S Africa from Nigeria east to Sudan + Ethiopia, south to Cape Province
  7. Oncinotis tomentellaRadlk. - Madagascar
  1. Oncinotis axillarisK.Schum. = Baissea multifloraA.DC.
  2. Oncinotis campanulataK.Schum = Baissea campanulata(K.Schum.) de Kruif
  3. Oncinotis melanocephalaK.Schum. = Baissea myrtifolia(Benth.) Pichon
  4. Oncinotis subsessilisK.Schum. = Baissea campanulata(K.Schum.) de Kruif
  5. Oncinotis zygodioidesK.Schum. = Baissea zygodioides(K.Schum.) Stapf
<i>Pleiocarpa</i> Genus of flowering plants

Pleiocarpa is a genus of plant in the family Apocynaceae first described as a genus in 1876. It is native to tropical Africa from Senegal to Tanzania and south to Zimbabwe. As of August 2013 the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families recognises 6 species:

  1. Pleiocarpa bicarpellataStapf - Cabinda, Cameroon, Republic of Congo, Gabon, Zaire, Kenya
  2. Pleiocarpa brevistylaOmino - Gabon
  3. Pleiocarpa muticaBenth. - Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo
  4. Pleiocarpa picralimoides(Pichon) Omino - Cabinda, Republic of Congo, Gabon
  5. Pleiocarpa pycnantha(K.Schum) Stapf - widespread across most of tropical Africa
  6. Pleiocarpa rostrataBenth. - Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon
  1. Pleiocarpa camerunensis(K.Schum. ex Hallier f.) Stapf = Hunteria camerunensisK.Schum. ex Hallier f.
  2. Pleiocarpa hockiiDe Wild. - Acokanthera oppositifolia(Lam.) Codd
  3. Pleiocarpa simii(Stapf) Stapf ex Hutch. & Dalziel = Hunteria simii(Stapf) H.Huber

Aspidoglossum is a genus of plants in the family Apocynaceae, first described as a genus in 1838. It is native to Africa.

<i>Raphionacme</i> Genus of flowering plants

Raphionacme is a plant genus in the family Apocynaceae, first described as a genus in 1842. The genus is found primarily in Africa, with one species on the Arabian Peninsula.

<i>Fockea multiflora</i> Species of succulent

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.

<i>Anchusa capensis</i> Species of plant in the genus Anchusa

Anchusa capensis, is a species of flowering plant in the family Boraginaceae, native to Namibia, South Africa and Lesotho. The genus Anchusa is from the Greek word anchousa, which makes reference to its use as a dye base for cosmetic paint obtained from the roots of another plant in the genus Anchusa tinctoria. The species capensis translates to ‘from the Cape’ referring to South Africa

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Bruyns, P. V.; Klak, C. (2006). "A Systematic Study of the Old World Genus Fockea (Apocynaceae–Asclepiadoideae)". Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden. 93 (4): 535. doi:10.3417/0026-6493(2006)93[535:ASSOTO]2.0.CO;2. ISSN   0026-6493. S2CID   86171059.
  2. National Research Council (2006). Lost crops of Africa: Volume II: Vegetables. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press. p. 269. ISBN   0-309-66582-5.
  3. Endlicher, Stephan (1838). Iconographia generum plantarum. [Vindobonae: F. Beck]. p. 91. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.127663 . Retrieved 28 Jul 2023.
  4. 1 2 Endlicher, Stephan; Fenzl, Eduard (1839). Novarum stirpium decas I–X. [Vindobonae: Typis Sollingerianis]. pp. 17–19. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.127663 . Retrieved 28 Jul 2023.
  5. Zecher, Ernst (1988). "The Old Lady of Schoenbrunn". Asklepios. 43: 88–93.
  6. Walker, Colin (Sep 2021). "Three South African Crassulas and the botanical art of Baron von Jacquin" (PDF). Cactus & Succulent Review. 31: 31–39. Retrieved 29 Jul 2023.
  7. Court, Grace Doreen (1982). A revision of the genus Fockea Endl. (Asclepiadaceae) (MSc thesis). Grahamstown, South Africa: Rhodes University. Retrieved 28 Jul 2023.
  8. Bruyns, P. V. (2014). The Apocynaceae of Namibia. Pretoria: South African National Biodiversity Institute. p. 30, 32. ISBN   978-1-91997698-3.
  9. "Fockea Endl". WFO Plant List. Retrieved 24 Jun 2023.
  10. Faucon, Philippe. "Fockea". Desert Tropicals. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
  11. "Fockea angustifolia K.Schum". Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Retrieved 24 Jun 2023.
  12. "Fockea capensis Endl". Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Retrieved 24 Jun 2023.
  13. "Fockea comaru (E.Mey.) N.E.Br". Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Retrieved 24 Jun 2023.
  14. "Fockea edulis (Thunb.) K.Schum". Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Retrieved 24 Jun 2023.
  15. "Fockea multiflora K.Schum". Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Retrieved 24 Jun 2023.
  16. "Fockea sinuata (E.Mey.) Druce". Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Retrieved 24 Jun 2023.