후디아 마크란타-Hoodia macrantha Dinter

 

후디아 마크란타

Hoodia macrantha Dinter

 

Accepted Scientific Name: Hoodia currorii (Hook.) Decne.
Prodr. [A. P. de Candolle] 8: 665. 1844 [mid Mar 1844] DC. et al.

 

Origin and Habitat: Namibia (Ebony to Usakos) The species is also known to exist in the Richtersveld in northern South Africa.
Habitat: Very arid stony deserts, dry short forest and dry acacia shrub vegetation from the costal Namib desert up to 250 km to the interior. This area is home to a wide range of unique plant species.

ENGLISH: Hoodia

Description: Spiny, cactus-like columnar or sprawling succulent, with numerous stems. Slow growing but can get 40-80(-100) cm high.
Stem: Cylindrical, grey brown-purplish or greenish up to 8 cm in diameter and up to 1 m long.
Ribs: 11-24 vertical, with prominent obtuse tubercles.
Spines: one at the tip of each tubercle, sharp, 6-10 mm long.
Flowers: Subapical in group of 1 to 4, opening successively satellite dishes-like consisting of a short pentagonal tube and a subcircular limb, hairy, pink-purple to red-orange with yellow on the ribs 4-18 cm in diameter, the largest in the genus, has the horrible smell of rotten meat which attracts flies, they pollinate the plant and keep its generation alive. Without flies there would be no Hoodia macrantha.
Remarks: There are many difficulty in Hoodia identification. If we have some plants from unidentified origin ( plants provided unlabeled or with poor identification data), we have to wait until the plant is in flower and also specialists and growers have quite a difficulty to identify correctly this plants.