Burchard's fly flower
| Burchard's fly flower | ||||||||||||
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Apteranthes burchardii |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Apteranthes burchardii | ||||||||||||
| ( NEBr. ) Plowes |
Burchard's fly flower ( Apteranthes burchardii ) is a species of the silk plant family (Asclepiadoideae). The nominate subspecies is endemic to the Canaries . The second subspecies occurs in Morocco .
features
Burchard's fly flower is a perennial stem succulent plant that consists of barely branched, upright stems with underground runners . They form "heaps" with a diameter of up to 60 cm. The trunks are irregularly structured and green to light gray, rarely also reddish-spotted. They have a length of 15 to 50 cm and a diameter of up to 2.5 cm. The cross-section is square, also four-ribbed with downward-pointing cusps on the edges. After the flowers have formed, the stems predominantly grow in thickness. The leaves are very small (about 1.5 mm) and curved downwards and appear only on the very young shoots.
The zymous inflorescence contains three to nine flowers. The hermaphrodite, radially symmetrical, five-fold corolla measures 13 to 16 mm in diameter and has a double perianth . The five sepals are fused, as are the five dark brown-red petals . The corolla is flat or has a slightly bell-shaped appearance due to the slightly forward curved corolla lobes. The corolla lobes are deeply cut, pointed, up to 4 mm long and at the base up to 3.5 mm wide. They are usually densely covered with soft, whitish hair. The edges are slightly curved outwards. The secondary crown is intensely yellow in color. There are two free, upper carpels .
The green or purple-striped, slender, 7 to 8 cm long follicles are arranged in pairs and horn-shaped. The seeds have a tuft of white hairs on one end.
Occurrence
The (nominated sub) species is restricted to the large Canary Islands Gran Canaria , Fuerteventura and Lanzarote as well as the Canary islands Lobos and Graciosa . The subspecies Apteranthes burchardi ssp. maura (Maire) Meve & F.Albers occurs in Morocco . In the Canaries it occurs in the succulent bush. They differ slightly in the color of the flower and the structure of the secondary crown.
Systematics
The varieties Apteranthes burchardii var. Purpurascens and Apteranthes burchardii var. Sventenii are now also included in the nominate subspecies . Apteranthes burchardii ssp. maura also includes the forms Apteranthes burchardii f. grandiflora , Apteranthes burchardii f. sordida and Apteranthes burchardii f. viridis . This species is named after Oscar Burchard (1863–1949), a German botanist who lived in Tenerife for a long time .
The species was added to the genus Caralluma until recently . Plowes established the genus Apteranthes for the form circle around Apteranthes europaea .
literature
- Focke Albers, Ulli Meve (Hrsg.): Succulents Lexicon Volume 3: Asclepiadaceae (silk plants). 322 S., Ulmer, Stuttgart 2002 ISBN 9783800139828 .
- Peter Schönfelder , Ingrid Schönfelder: The cosmos of the Canary Islands. 2nd edition, 319 pages, Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co KG Stuttgart ISBN 978-3-440-10750-8
- I. Albers, D. Metzing: Apteranthes burchardii subsp. burchardii (Apocynaceae). Cacti and Other Succulents , 58 (5): 123-126, 2007.
- J. Kumke: The situation of the Caralluma burchardii and Euphorbia handiensis on Fuerteventura . Caralluma 32, 56-60, 2010
- Manfred Hartl: Caralluma burchardii on Fuerteventura . Cacti and Other Succulents , 63 (1): 1-6, 2012
- Ray Stephenson: Apteranthes burchardii (NEBr.) Plowes - in the locations of both varieties . Avonia Volume 30: 4, 2012, pp. 175-177
