Quaqua mammillaris (L.) Bruyns

Species

Angiosperms > Gentianales > Apocynaceae > Quaqua

Characteristics

Often robust succulent shrub up to 600 mm diam., rooting from single central stem only. Stems 120-500 mm long, 15-40 mm thick, erect, uniformly green to purple or brown, occasionally mottled with purple-brown on green; tubercles 5-20 mm long, conical to slightly laterally flattened, spreading, fused near base into 4-5 irregularly arranged angles, each tipped with sharp hardened yellow-brown tooth. Inflorescences of 3-15 ± simultaneously opening flowers usually in dense fascicles mostly in upper two thirds of stem; pedicel 2-3 mm long, 2 mm thick, spreading and holding flower facing horizontally; sepals 3-4 mm long, ovate, acuminate. Corolla 20-27 mm diam., campanulate to nearly rotate; outside pale-green towards base, otherwise purple-brown; inside purple-black to red on lobes and into mouth of tube where breaking up and becoming spots and bands on cream to white in tube, with low to conical obtuse papillae mainly on lower half of lobes and mouth of tube, each topped with a thick ascending bristle; tube 3-5 mm long, ±5 mm broad at mouth, cupular, corolla thickened at mouth; lobes 10-20 mm long, 4.5-7.0 mm broad at base, erect to spreading, narrowly lanceolate (sometimes ovate then linear, usually tapering from base to finely acute often slightly incurved apex), strongly longitudinally folded back down middle. Corona ±3 mm tall, 4.0-4.5 mm broad, dark purple-brown, raised on short stipe; outer lobes 1.5-2.0 mm long, erect, bifid to nearly halfway down into erect deltoid teeth (sometimes with small denticle between them) laterally fused for most of length with bases of inner lobes to form deep pouch; inner lobes ±1 mm long, adpressed to backs of anthers and exceeding them, then connivent-erect and rising into small column in centre, linear, obtuse, dorsiventrally flattened, with erect truncate to obtuse dorsal projection slightly in front of outer lobes.
More
Robust, clump-forming, glabrous succulent, up to 0.5 x 0.6 m, stems leafless, very irregularly 4-or 5-angled, spiky-tuberculate, up to 40 mm diam. Flowers ± 3-15, opening together in many sessile clusters along grooves of stem, pedicels 2-3 mm long. Corolla campanulate, with many, bristle-tipped papillae around mouth of tube, 20-27 mm diam., inside purple-black, white in tube, tube 3-5 mm long, lobes spreading, narrowly lanceolate, 10-20 x 4-7 mm. Corona purple-brown, outer lobes bifid into erect teeth, inner adpressed to anthers and rising up in centre, with an erect, dorsal appendage.
A small succulent shrub. It keeps growing from year to year. It grows up to 60 cm high. The stems can be 2 cm thick. The stems have ridges. The thorns are spaced. The flowers are small. They are 2-3 cm with. They are pale green near the base. There can be 1-20 flowering stalks per stem with 1-30 flowers each.
Leafless, succulent shrublet, 10-45 cm, rooting from central stem, tubercles hardened into sharp, spreading teeth, obscurely arranged in 4 or 5 angles; sap clear. Flowers like Q. arenicola , but lower half of petals and mouth of tube roughly papillate, very foul-smelling.
Life form perennial
Growth form shrub
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention -
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 0.1 - 0.6
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color
Blooming months
JanFebMar
AprMayJun
JulAugSep
OctNovDec
Fruit color -
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway -

Environment

It is a tropical plant. It grows in shade. In southern Africa it grows between 150-1,100 m above sea level. It can grow in arid places.
Light 7-9
Soil humidity 1-5
Soil texture 4-5
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 9-9

Usage

Caution: It should not be eaten by pregnant women. The stems are eaten in large quantities. The leaves are used as a green vegetable. The flowers and fruit are eaten.
Uses food gene source medicinal
Edible flowers fruits leaves stems
Therapeutic use -
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Mode -
Germination duration (days) -
Germination temperacture (C°) -
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -7
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Images

Quaqua mammillaris unspecified picture

Distribution

Quaqua mammillaris world distribution map, present in South Africa

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:913252-1
WFO ID wfo-0000733232
COL ID 4QZW4
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN)
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Boucerosia mammillaris Pectinaria mammillaris Sarcophagophilus armatus Quaqua mammillaris Caralluma mammillaris Caralluma winkleriana Stapelia pulla Caralluma winkleri Sarcophagophilus winklerianus Piaranthus pullus Piaranthus mammillaris Stapelia mammillaris