6885.050 Orbea Haw.

CARALLUMA R. Br.

ORBEOPSIS L.C. Leach

PACHYCYMBIUM L.C. Leach

Bruyns, P.V. (2002) Monograph of Orbea and Ballyanthus (Apocynaceae-Asclepiadoideae-Ceropegieae) Systematic Botany Monographs 63 1-196

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

Fayaz, F. (2011) Encyclopedia of Tropical Plants Firefly Books, New Zealand

Leach, L.C. (1975) The Reinstatement of Orbea Haw. (Asclepiadaceae) Kirkia 10(1) 287-291

Description of the genus

Succulents, spineless; often rhizomatous, forming compact to diffuse clumps. Stems decumbent to prostrate, fleshy and firm, glabrous, purplish, mottled; tubercles spreading, often laterally flattened. Inflorescences glabrous, often 1-3 per stem; 1-40 flowered; bracts 1-several, lanceolate with several teeth. Sepals 5, lanceolate, acuminate; corolla usually rotate to campanulate, often thickened into a prominent annulus around a mount, mostly deeply lobed. Fruit consisting of erect follicles, divergent with two horns.

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.

Worldwide: 56 species in Africa and South West Arabia.

Botswana: 13 taxa.

Orbea lugardii

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

SpeciesFZ divisionsContent
carnosa (Stent) Bruyns subsp. keithii (R.A. Dyer) BruynsSEDescription, Image
caudata (N.E. Br.) Bruyns subsp. rhodesiaca (L.C. Leach) BruynsDescription, Image
huillensis (Hiern.) Bruyns subsp. huillensis NDescription, Image
knobelii (E. Phillips) Bruyns[VU]N,SW,SE
lugardii (N.E. Br.) BruynsN,SWDescription, Image
lutea (N.E. Br.) Bruyns subsp. lutea N,SEDescription, Image
maculata (N.E. Br.) L.C. Leach subsp. maculata N,SEDescription, Image
rogersii (L. Bolus) BruynsDescription, Image
schweinfurthii (A. Berger) BruynsDescription, Image
tapscottii (Verd.) L.C.Leach[EN]SEDescription, Image
valida (N.E. Br.) Bruyns subsp. occidentalis Bruyns[NrEnd]N
valida (N.E. Br.) Bruyns subsp. valida NDescription, Image
variegata (L.) Haw.Description, Image

Other sources of information about Orbea:

Our websites:

Flora of Caprivi: Orbea
Flora of Caprivi: cultivated Orbea
Flora of Malawi: Orbea
Flora of Mozambique: Orbea
Flora of Zambia: Orbea
Flora of Zimbabwe: Orbea

External websites:

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

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: Orbea.
https://www.botswanaflora.com/speciesdata/genus.php?genus_id=1159, retrieved 28 March 2024

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