Hoodia gordonii
Click on each image to see a larger version and details of the record (Click here to see images of this plant from Kyffhäuser)
Image 1
Habit
20 Mar 2007
Image 2
Flower
20 Mar 2007
Image 3
Flower
20 Mar 2007
| Family: | Asclepiadaceae |
| Full name: | Hoodia gordonii (Masson) Sweet ex Decne. |
| ID status: | Fairly certain |
| Afrikaans common name(s): | Bitterghaap, Bobbejaanghaap, Bergghaap, Bokhorings, Wilde ghaap, Muishondghaap, Jakkalsghaap, Ghobba |
| English common name(s): | Bushveld ghaap |
| Synonym(s): | Hoodia albispina N.E.Br. Hoodia bainii Dyer Hoodia barklyi Dyer Hoodia burkei N.E.Br. Hoodia dinteri Schltr. fide White A. & Sloane B. L., The Stapelieae vol 3 p 1085 and FSA Hoodia husabensis Nel Hoodia langii Oberm. & Letty Hoodia longispina Plowes Hoodia pillansii N.E.Br. Hoodia rosea Oberm. & Letty Hoodia whitesloaneana Dinter ex A.C.White & B.Sloane Stapelia gordonii Masson |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: | Hoodia gordonii is a spiny succulent. In the early stages only one stem is produced but at a later stage the plant starts branching. Mature plants can have as many as 50 individual branches and weigh as much as 30 kg. Plants under ideal conditions can attain a height of 1 m. Flowers are borne on or near the terminal apex (top part of the plant). The flowers are large and have a carrion-like smell (smell similar to rotten meat). In some ways the Hoodia flowers resemble a petunia flower. Flowers vary in colour from pale straw to dark maroon. Flowers are normally borne in August or September. Flowers can reach a diameter of 75 mm. Seed is produced in October and November. The seed capsules resemble small antelope or goat horns hence the Afrikaans common name of bokhorings. Plant 1–1.5 ft. high, with erect branches about 2 in. thick, glaucous-green, with the numerous angles beset with slender light brown spines 3–4.5 lin. long; pedicels 0.5– 0.75 in. long, glabrous; sepals 2.5–3 lin. long, ovate-anceolate, acuminate, glabrous; corolla in bud somewhat resembling a narrow pentagonal cone, with 5 very broad wings descending from the short central point to the base, truncate at the top and slightly hooked at the outer angles; when expanded 3–4 in. in diam., subcircular with 5 very broad crenations, each very abruptly tipped with a slender arista-like point 2.5–3 lin. long, very slightly concave or nearly flat, with or without revolute margins, pale purple, radiately marked with pale greenish-yellow stripes along the veins, thickly sprinkled on the central part with minute dark red papillæ, elsewhere quite glabrous, but with a somewhat velvet-like appearance; tube very small, about 0.25 in. in diam., just containing the corona, slightly raised around the mouth; outer corona-lobes ascending-spreading, somewhat pouch-like at the base, about 0.333 lin. long and 0.666 lin. broad, transversely subrectangular, emarginate or shortly and obtusely bifid at the apex, with inflexed sinuses between them, purple-black, with a shining linear space down the centre of each; inner corona-lobes 0.5– 0.666 lin. long, linear, obtuse or truncate, incumbent upon the backs of the anthers and not exceeding them, dorsally connected to the outer corona at the inflexed sinuses between the lobes, purple-black; follicles 2.5–3 in. long, terete, fusiform, tapering to an acute beak, slightly hooked at the apex, smooth, glabrous; seeds not seen. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora Capensis) |
| Link(s) |
African Plant Database
JSTOR Plant Science Kew Herbarium Catalogue BGBM Berlin-Dahlem - Virtual Herbarium Züricher Herbarien iNaturalist (Namibia / Alex Dreyer) iNaturalist (Namibia) iNaturalist (southern Africa) Flora of Zimbabwe Fleurs de notre Terre - Galerie Namibie Tree Atlas of Namibia |
| Content last updated: | 18 Apr 2024 |
