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.

Zimbabwe: 12 taxa.

Orbea caudata subsp. rhodesiaca

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) Bruyns[LR-lc]C,EDescription, Image
caudata (N.E. Br.) Bruyns subsp. rhodesiaca (L.C. Leach) BruynsN,W,C,E,SDescription, Image
huillensis (Hiern.) Bruyns subsp. huillensis [DD]WDescription, Image
lugardii (N.E. Br.) Bruyns[DD]W?Description, Image
lutea (N.E. Br.) Bruyns subsp. lutea [VU]WDescription, Image
maculata (N.E. Br.) L.C. Leach subsp. maculata [DD]W,E,SDescription, Image
melanantha (Schltr.) BruynsN
rogersii (L. Bolus) Bruyns[CR]W,E,SDescription, Image
schweinfurthii (A. Berger) Bruyns[LR-lc]N,WDescription, Image
umbracula (M.D. Hend.) L.C. Leach[NrEnd][DD]N,E,SDescription, Image
valida (N.E. Br.) Bruyns subsp. valida [VU]N,WDescription, Image
variegata (L.) Haw.WDescription, Image

Other sources of information about Orbea:

Our websites:

Flora of Botswana: Orbea
Flora of Caprivi: Orbea
Flora of Caprivi: cultivated Orbea
Flora of Malawi: Orbea
Flora of Mozambique: Orbea
Flora of Zambia: 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, 2002-24

Hyde, M.A., Wursten, B.T., Ballings, P. & Coates Palgrave, M. (2024). Flora of Zimbabwe: Genus page: Orbea.
https://www.zimbabweflora.co.zw/speciesdata/genus.php?genus_id=1159, retrieved 19 March 2024

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