Huernia quinta
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Huernia quinta |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Huernia quinta | ||||||||||||
| ( E.Phillips ) ACWhite & B.Sloane |
Huernia quinta is a species of the subfamily of the silk plant family (Asclepiadoideae).
features
Huernia quinta forms stem succulent , gray-green, upright or ascending, often slightly twisted, relatively thick shoots that are on average up to about 7 cm high and about 2 cm thick. In cross-section they are 4 to 5-ribbed and densely covered with dirty-cream-colored, up to 4 mm long warts. The leaf rudiments are hard, whitish and persistent. The flowers point upwards with the flower opening. Occasionally two to three flowers are open at the same time. Sometimes there are two flowers on a flower stalk; this is usually shorter than 1 cm. The sepals measure 5 × 1.5 mm. The corolla has a diameter of min. 2.0 to max. 3.5 cm, usually 2.5 to 3 cm. It is cup-shaped with a spreading edge and extended, partially slightly bent back tips. The inside of the flower is white or creamy white, the flower tube is spotted with red dots, the slightly pentagonal opening of the tube has a few concentric, partially broken red lines. The diameter of the tube is 0.7 to 1 cm. The tips are triangular and slightly pointed. They are densely papillary on the upper side . The papillae are flattened, conical or hemispherical, occasionally covered with a bristle up to 1 mm long. The corolla is cream-colored to light brown, occasionally with brown spots. It measures 3 to 4 mm in diameter and is 4 to 5 mm high. The interstaminal corolla lobes are quite short, notched to dentate. The staminal corolla lobes are around 1 mm wide with a blunt end. They meet above the stylus head . The surface is covered with very fine, blunted warts. The stylus head is conical and has a transverse furrow at the base. The pollinia are brownish with a slightly darker germination zone.
Geographical distribution
The species occurs in the Republic of South Africa in the provinces Limpopo and Mpumalanga .
Taxonomy and nomenclature
The species was first described by Edwin Percy Phillips as a variety of Huernia scabra . Alain Campbell White and Boyd Lincoln Sloane recognized them as a distinct species. There are currently two varieties:
- Huernia quinta var. Quinta and
- Huernia quinta var. Blyderiverensis LC Leach; the flower of this variety is slightly larger with transverse lines and transverse rows of dots, the opening of the flower tube is slightly narrowed and the bristles on the upper side of the petals are shorter.
literature
- Focke Albers and Ulli Meve (eds.): Succulent lexicon Volume 3 Asclepiadaceae (silk plants) . 322 S., Ulmer, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 978-3-8001-3982-8 (description of the species p. 170).
- Alain Campbell White and Boyd L. Sloane: The Stapelieae, Volume 3. pp. 819-1184, Pasadena, Calif., 1937 (p. 886)
