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Dorstenia foetida

Section Kosaria


Dorstenia foetida
photo courtesy P&S

Type

 Subshrub
Body Stem succulent, Pachycaul body, varies from pear shaped to cigar length, branched or unbranched, some have smooth green bodies, others are greyish and flake when growing
Height Varies, from 3 cm to 40 cm.
Leaves D. foetida has a wide variety in leaves. The width, length, colour and ridges of the leaves vary very much, from smooth green, oval shaped and 3 cm in length to 14 cm long, grey-green and only 2 cm wide.
Flowers D. foetida has a wide variety in flowers. Flowers range from being 0,5 cm in diameter hanging in a crown near the trunk just under the leaves to being 5 cm in diameter whilst mounted on a flower stem of the same length. Also the length of the appendages varies, from thick and even leafy to very thin and up to 4 cm long.
Reproduction Seed, plant is supposedly self fertile, seeds form on the flower surface
Area In Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Yemen, Saoudi Arabia and Oman;
In deciduous and succulent bushland on rock outcrops and on open places;
At altitudes up to 2100 m.
Taxonomical details D. foetida (Forsskal) Schweinfurth, Bull. Herb. Boiss. 4 (App. 2): 120. 1986. Cosaria forskahlii J. Gmelin (1791); D. arabica Hemsley (1899); D. crispa Engler (1898); D. crispa var. lancifolia Rendle (1915); D. crispa var. pachypoda Chiovenda (1916); D. foetida subsp. obovata (A. Richard) Friis (1983); D. foetida var. obovata (A. Richard) Engler (1898); D. obovata A. Richard (1851); D. philipsae Hooker f. (1899); D. radiata Lamarck (1786); Kosaria foetida Forsskal (1775).
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Dorstenia foetida, authors collection
 

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This page has been updated on 25.11.2010