6885.000 Stapelia L. - Carrion-flowers

Succulent perennial herbs. Stems pubescent, 4(-6)-angled, with tuberculate teeth on the angles. Leaves fleshy, rudimentary (or 0), at apex of tuberculate teeth with a pair of glands at their base. Inflorescence a pedunculate cyme, usually arising from the base. Flowers usually foetid. Corolla usually deeply lobed, rotate, shallowly cup-shaped or funnel-shaped, usually hairy, in shades of brown, yellow, red and purple. Corona in 2 series, 10-lobed, the 5 outer lobes simple (rarely 2-fid). Follicles fusiform, sparsely pubescent.

Derivation of name: After J.B. Van Stapel, Dutch physician who died in 1636.

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: 44 species in tropical and South Africa

Botswana: 3 taxa.