Petopentia natalensis
| Petopentia natalensis | ||||||||||||
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Petopentia natalensis |
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
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| Bullock | ||||||||||||
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| Petopentia natalensis | ||||||||||||
| ( Schltr. ) Bullock |
Petopentia natalensis is the only plant species of the monotypic genus Petopentia in the family of dog poison plants (Apocynaceae). The name of the genus is an anagram of the genus name Pentopetia , under which the plants were previously carried.
description
Petopentia natalensis grows as a liana from a powerful, spherical tuber that can reach up to 40 cm or more in diameter. The tubers can also grow in rows like a string of pearls. The twisting, woody shoots reach heights of up to 15 m and produce white milky sap. The bare bark is reddish to reddish brown in color. The strong, stalked leaves are 5 to 13 cm long and 1 to 6 cm wide. The top of the petioles is rutty. The shape of the leaf blade is basal, heart-shaped, rounded or blunt and rounded apically. The bare leaves are more or less leathery, shiny dark green on the upper side and mostly purple in color on the underside.
The stalked and multi-flowered inflorescences appear on the side of the shoot and branch out into pointed conical buds. The bald and free-standing sepals are ovate and pointed and 1 to 2 mm long. The wheel-shaped corolla is only slightly overgrown at the base. The narrow triangular-lanceolate corolla lobes are spread out 12 to 14 mm long and 4 mm wide. The bald, pointed tips are coarse and light yellow or light green in color, sometimes with a strong purple tinge. The petaploid secondary coronet arises at the base of the corolla lobes from the angles and alternates with them. The thread-like, awl and upright corolla lobes are greenish in color. The lanceolate, pointed and whitish anthers are conically arranged. The thread-like stamens emerging from a widened base are fused with the corolla lobes at the base. The rhomboid to T-shaped pollen is arranged in tetrads.
The flattened, spindle-shaped fruit is spread in pairs and is 6 to 11 cm long and 1.2 to 1.7 cm wide. The smooth, black-brown seed is elongated and dorsally provided with a central keel.
Distribution and systematics
Petopentia natalensis is widespread in South Africa in the province of KwaZulu-Natal .
The first description of Petopentia natalensis was as Pentopetia natalensis in 1894 by Rudolf Schlechter . Synonyms are Tacazzea natalensis (Schltr.) NEBr. (1907), Ischnolepis natalensis (Schltr.) Venter (2001) and Fockea natalensis hort. (no year, nom. invalid ICBN -Article 29.1).
The plant is often sold under the false name Fockea tugelensis .
literature
- Ulli Meve: Petopentia . In: Focke Albers, Ulli Meve (Hrsg.): Succulents Lexicon Volume 3 Asclepiadaceae (silk plants). Ulmer, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 978-3-8001-3982-8 , p. 211.
