Titanopsis

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Titanopsis
Titanopsis calcarea

Titanopsis calcarea

Systematics
Eudicotyledons
Nuclear eudicotyledons
Order : Clove-like (Caryophyllales)
Family : Midday flowers (Aizoaceae)
Subfamily : Ruschioideae
Genre : Titanopsis
Scientific name
Titanopsis
Schwantes

Titanopsis is a plant kind from the family of aizoaceae (Aizoaceae). The botanical name of the genus is derived from the Greek nouns τίτανος (titanos) for "lime" and ὅψις (opsis) for "appearance" and refers to the similarity of the plants with the limestone gravel in which they grow.

description

The plants of the genus Titanopsis grow compact and are sunk into the ground. The four to eight leaves of a shoot form dense rosettes. The triangular to club-shaped leaves are 20 to 25 millimeters long. Their surface is warty at the top and smooth at the base. The white, green, copper, pink or reddish "warts" consist of a group of different tannic idioblasts that are covered by a layer of small cells.

There are no bracts . There are one to three flowers together. The sepals are almost the same. Their petals are yellow and often orange or purple at the tip. The stamens form a broad cone. The large, wreath-like nectarium is designed as a ring.

The six-compartment capsule fruits are stalked and have a diameter of 6.5 to 8 millimeters. They are flat to conical and transparent at the top. The valve wings are widened at the base and rectangular or tapered towards the tip. The small closure bodies can be missing. The white to light brown seeds are 0.5 to 0.9 millimeters long and 0.4 to 0.7 millimeters wide.

Systematics and distribution

The northernmost point of the distribution area of ​​the genus Titanopsis is near Lüderitz in Namibia . From there it extends on both sides of the Orange River in a narrow belt into the Bushmanland . In South Africa the distribution area includes parts of the provinces of the North Cape and Free State as well as the south of the Northwest Province . The plants grow on limestone plains between pebbles. The amount of precipitation is usually more than 200 millimeters per year and falls mainly from the month of March until the summer.

It was first described in 1926 by Gustav Schwantes . The holotype is Titanopsis schwantesii . According to Heidrun Hartmann , the genus Titanopsis includes the following three species:

proof

literature

  • Gideon Smith et al. a .: Mesembs of the World. Illustrated Guide to a Remarkable Succulent Group . Briza Publications 1998, pp. 172-176, ISBN 1-875093-13-3
  • Heidrun EK Hartmann: Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants. Aizoaceae F-Z . Springer Verlag, Berlin [ua] 2001, pp. 328-330, ISBN 3-540-41723-0

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Journal of Succulents . Volume 2, p. 178, Berlin 1926
  2. ↑ Heidrun EK Hartmann: Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants. Aizoaceae F-Z . Springer Verlag, Berlin [et al.] 2001, p. 329

Web links

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