Ruschia spinosa (L.) Dehn.

국표에 없다.

If one is looking for a striking waterwise plant for a Karoo garden or a desert garden, look no further than this spinescent succulent shrub with beautiful purple flowers!

Description

Ruschia spinosa is a spinescent shrub, 350-700 mm high with a rounded habit. Whitish grey internodes turn black with age. Flowers are scented, with striking purple petals, arranged in spiny cymes, a flower cluster in which all floral stems end with a flower and central flowers opening first. It flowers profusely in spring and early summer, from September to December. The fruit is a five-lobed capsule, with or without narrow valve wings. Seeds are very small.  Ruschia spinosa takes about two years to be fully grown.

Conservation Status

Ruschia spinosa is not a threatened plant.

Distribution and habitat

Ruschia spinosa can be found in the Northern Cape, Eastern Cape, and Western Cape and Namibia, occurring in the Succulent- and Nama-Karoo Biomes.

Derivation of name and historical aspects

The genus Ruschia is named in honour of the late Mr Ernst Julius Rusch (1867 - 1957), originally from Germany, who settled on the farm Lichtenstein, near Windhoek in Namibia. He was one of the founders of Windhoek. Ruschia has a very wide distribution with 224 species. The specific name spinosa, is derived from the Latin word for spine, Ruschia spinosa being a spinescent shrub.

Ruschia spinosa, was brought to Kirstenbosch in July 1914 by James Dugal Cameron Lamb, a keen plant collector. He started a herbarium, Herbarium Lambii, and donated his plant collection of more than 1000 specimens, to the South African Museum Herbarium shortly before his death in 1937.

Ecology

The very small seeds are dispersed by raindrops as the capsule valves open in wet conditions.

Ruschia spinosa | PlantZAfrica (sanbi.org)

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