Desert cabbage
| Desert cabbage | ||||||||||||
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Adenia pechuelii |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Adenia pechuelii | ||||||||||||
| ( Engl. ) Harms |
The desert cabbage ( Adenia pechuelii , Syn .: Echinothamnus pechuelii Engl. ) Is a plant species in the widespread genus Adenia , whose representatives also thrive in the tropical jungle, within the passion flower family (Passifloraceae). This protected, endemic plant species has an occurrence that is limited to an arid area between the Walvis Bay district and the southern Kaokoveld in Namibia . Whitish rock ridges are preferred as a location and it is one of the most peculiar plant species in this area. The specific epithet honors Eduard Pechuel-Loesche .
description
Adenia pechuelii forms an almost spherical, gray-green, kohlrabi-like trunk ( caudex ) with a diameter of up to 1 meter. On the top of the trunk there are many bushy and upright shoots up to 1.5 meters in length. Tiny, soon-falling leaves sit on the branches. At the base of the median nerve are two nectar glands.
Adenia pechuelii is sometimes single-sexed ( monoecious ). The inflorescences are one to three-flowered. The male flowers are bell-shaped and 8 to 14 mm tall. The narrow flower cup is short and a calyx tube is missing. The sepals are 3 to 7 mm long. The lanceolate petals are 3 to 7 mm long and are finely sawn at the tip. The short stamens are half fused together. The butt rounded anthers are 2.5 to 4.5 mm in size. The secondary crown consists of fine, woolly hair. The female flowers are 7 to 8 mm tall and have no nectar scales.
1 to 2 cm in size, spherical to ellipsoidal fruits are formed. The pericarp is smooth and leathery. The 3 to 6 egg-shaped seeds are about 7 mm in size.
swell
- WJ de Wilde: Adenia. In: Urs Eggli (Hrsg.): Succulent lexicon. Volume 2: Dicotyledonous plants (dicotyledons). Ulmer, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-8001-3915-4 , p. 369.
Web links
- Namibian Biodiversity Database
- Adenia pechuelii inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: Craven, P, 2004. Retrieved September 3, 2013.