Brachystelma caffrum
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Brachystelma caffrum |
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Brachystelma caffrum is a species of plant from the subfamily of the asclepiadoideae (Asclepiadoideae). It is only native to the South African Eastern Cape Province.
description
Vegetative characteristics
Brachystelma caffrum is a perennial herbaceous plant . This geophyte forms a spherical root flattened on the upper side with a diameter of 5 to 7 cm, as a permanent organ. The numerous, prostrate-ascending, annual shoot axes are 5 to 12 cm long and sparsely hairy.
The opposite leaves are bare and short-stalked. The rather thick, simple leaf blade is variable in shape, but mostly ovoid-lanceolate with a length of up to 15 mm. The leaf margins are coarse hairy.
Inflorescence and flowers
The sessile inflorescence is one to two flowers . The rough hairy flower stalk is 15 to 30 mm long and ascending.
The hermaphrodite flowers are radially symmetrical and five-fold. The flowers smell intensely of cow dung . The five sepals are lanceolate with a length of about 2 mm. The star-shaped corolla measures 7 to 13 mm in diameter. The yellow flower is smooth inside and covered with papillae outside . The corolla tube is comparatively short and flat. The petal lobes are ovate-triangular with a length of 3 to 5 mm. The edges of the petal lobes are more or less hairy. The sessile corolla is greenish-yellow in color and has a height of 2 mm and a diameter of 3 mm and is fused at its base like a bell or almost urn-shaped. The interstaminal lobes of the corolla are shaped like a pocket; at the upper end is a small V-shaped incision in the middle. Laterally, the interstaminal corolla lobes merge into the flat, widened back of the staminal corolla lobes. The staminal corolla lobes are narrow-tongue-shaped and lie against the stamen . The pollinia are D-shaped.
Fruits and seeds
The upright, mostly almost parallel or slightly diverging, paired follicles are long-spindle-shaped with a length of about 4.5 cm and a diameter of about 0.3 cm. The light brown seeds are about 6 mm long and about 2 mm wide, oblong-egg-shaped or lanceolate-egg-shaped and are slightly concave, smooth and glabrous on one side.
Similar Art
Brachystelma decipiens is very similar in shape to the secondary crown; both types are likely to be closely related.
Occurrence
Brachystelma caffrum occurs in the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa . The specimen copy was collected by Thomas Sim in 1893 on Mount Kemp at an altitude of 1,300 meters near Stutterheim ( Amathole District , Eastern Cape Province, South Africa). Anthony Patrick Dold found them at St. Albans near Ngcobo ( Chris Hani District , Eastern Cape Province, South Africa) and at Nqadu 20 km north of Mthatha (formerly Umtata) ( OR Tambo District , also Eastern Cape Province). Nicholas Edward Brown stated in 1907 that Brachystelma caffrum was then relatively common on rocky ground at an altitude of 4,000 to 5,000 feet.
Taxonomy
Brachystelma caffrum was first described by Rudolf Schlechter in 1894 under the basionym Tapeinostelma caffrum . The genus Tapeinostelma is now considered a synonym for Brachystelma . The specimen was collected by Thomas R. Sim on a mountain near Kingwillianstown (today's spelling King William's Town , Amathole District , Eastern Cape Province , South Africa ) at an altitude of 1,300 meters.
swell
literature
- Ulrich Meve: Brachystelma . In: Focke Albers, Ulrich Meve (Hrsg.): Succulents Lexicon Volume 3 Asclepiadaceae (silk plants) . Pp. 17–43, Eugen Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart 2002. ISBN 3-8001-3982-0
- Nicholas Edward Brown: Asclepiadaceae. In: William T. Thiselton-Dyer (Ed.): Flora Capensis: being a systematic description of the plants of the Cape Colony, Caffraria and Port Natal (and neighboring territories). Volume 4, Sect. 1 Vaccinaceae to Gentianeae , London, Reeve, 1905-09 Scanned at Botanicus.org (description of Brachystelma caffrum on p. 846/7)
Individual evidence
- ↑ www.asclepiadarium.com (pictures of fruits)
- ↑ www.succulents.co.za
- ^ Rudolf Schlechter: Contributions to the knowledge of the Orchidaceae and Asclepiadaceae of South Africa. Negotiations of the Botanical Association of the Province of Brandenburg , 35 (for 1893): 44-54, Berlin 1894. Online at archive.org
