6878.000 Hoodia Sweet ex Decne.

Bruyns, P.V. (2005) Stapeliads of Southern Africa and Madagascar Volume I Umdaus Press, Hatfield, South Africa

Bruyns, P.V., Klak, C. & Hanáček, P. (2017) A revised, phylogenetically-based concept of Ceropegia (Apocynaceae) South African Journal of Botany 112 399-436

Description of the genus

Spiny, non-rhizomatous succulent shrub with 3-many stems; up to 2 m tall and 2 m broad; stems long, erect, cylindric, fleshy, hard, grey-green to brown; tubercles deltoid, laterally flattened, joined into acute rows along the stem, each tipped with a sharp spine. Inflorescence usually arising towards the apex of the stem, glabrous, bearing 1-2 flowers opening successively; pedicels long, usually spreading; corolla rotate to campanulate, small and deeply lobed to large and flat to shallowly cupular, outside smooth, inside smooth to bristly. Fruit a follicle, erect, consisting of two horns, glabrous.

Comment: More recent phylogenetic evidence has led to the forming of a very broad concept of the genus Ceropegia including the genus Brachystelma and all known genera within the Stapeliae (Bruyns, P.V., Klak, C. & Hanáček, P., 2017). However we follow Goyder et Al. in Flora Zambesiaca 7(2), 2020 where the inclusion of the Stapeliad genera has not been accepted.
Records of two other species of Hoodia by Setshogo (2005) in the Preliminary Checklist of the Plants of Botswana appear to be erroneous – H. gordonii is native to Namibia and South Africa, while H. parviflora is restricted to Angola and Namibia. (Goyder et Al. (2020) in Flora Zambesiaca 7(2): 190.

Worldwide: 13 species in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana.

Botswana: 1 taxon.

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Links to taxa:     View: living plant images - herbarium specimen images - all images for this genus

SpeciesFZ divisionsContent
currorii (Hook.) Decne. subsp. lugardii (N.E. Br.) Bruyns[VU]Description, Image

Other sources of information about Hoodia:

Our websites:

Flora of Zimbabwe: Hoodia

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Hoodia
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Hoodia
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Hoodia
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Hoodia
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Hoodia
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Hoodia
JSTOR Plant Science: Hoodia
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Hoodia
Plants of the World Online: Hoodia
Tropicos: Hoodia
Wikipedia: Hoodia

Copyright: Mark Hyde, Bart Wursten, Petra Ballings and Meg Coates Palgrave, 2014-24

Hyde, M.A., Wursten, B.T., Ballings, P. & Coates Palgrave, M. (2024). Flora of Botswana: Genus page: Hoodia.
https://www.botswanaflora.com/speciesdata/genus.php?genus_id=1155, retrieved 28 March 2024

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