Anacampseros

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Anacampseros
Anacampseros rufescens
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Anacampserotaceae
Genus: Anacampseros
L.
Species

See text

The flower of Anacampseros rufescens is typical of the genus
Anacampseros subnuda illustrates one of the many variations in habitus within the genus

Anacampseros L. is a genus comprising about a hundred species of small perennial succulent plants native to Southern Africa, Ethiopia and Latin America. The botanical name Anacampseros is an ancient one for herbs supposed to restore lost love.

The Australian species Grahamia australiana was at one time included in the genus Anacampseros, but the entire genus now is regarded as Southern African, and no longer includes any Australian representatives.

Description

Plants in the genus Anacampseros are perennial. In

lanceolate in shape or rounded.[1]
The arrangement of leaves on a stem is
capsule that contains many seeds on a free-standing central placenta. In some species the three valves are misleadingly split into six valves. The seeds are compressed and may be angled or have three wings.[1]

Taxonomy

Anacampseros is now a genus in the family Anacampserotaceae, whereas until about 2010 it had been considered a member of Portulacaceae.[2]

Anacampseros Mill. is a synonym of the genus Sedum, which is in a different plant family, Crassulaceae.[2]

Species

The following species were listed as accepted in the Kew Gardens Plant list at the start of 2016.[2]

  • Anacampseros albidiflora
  • Anacampseros arachnoides (Little Karoo) has pink-to-white flowers and compact, ovoid, hairy leaves, each with a minute acuminate spine.
    Little Karoo
    ) has pink-to-white flowers and compact, ovoid, hairy leaves, each with a minute acuminate spine.
  • Anacampseros retusa
  • Anacampseros lanceolata (Western Cape) has smooth, hairless, acute-tipped leaves, and a branched inflorescence with broadly ovate petals, 30-45 stamens per flower and angular seeds.
    Anacampseros lanceolata (Western Cape) has smooth, hairless, acute-tipped leaves, and a branched inflorescence with broadly ovate petals, 30-45 stamens per flower and angular seeds.
  • Anacampseros filamentosa (Northern Cape and Namibia) has hairy, rounded-truncate leaves and slender elliptic-lanceolate petals on its uniformly pink flowers.
    Anacampseros filamentosa (Northern Cape and Namibia) has hairy, rounded-truncate leaves and slender elliptic-lanceolate petals on its uniformly pink flowers.
  • Anacampseros rufescens (Eastern Cape Province) a pink-flowered species. Leaf undersides are usually reddish and it has numerous axillary hairs.
    Eastern Cape Province
    ) a pink-flowered species. Leaf undersides are usually reddish and it has numerous axillary hairs.
  • Anacampseros subnuda has obtuse-tipped leaves, that lose their velt-hair, becoming smooth with age.
    Anacampseros subnuda has obtuse-tipped leaves, that lose their velt-hair, becoming smooth with age.

Uses and significance

Folk uses and views on the genus are incoherent and regional. Some species are regarded as narcotic or outright poisonous, but tests on sheep gave no positive result and some of the notionally toxic species are used in adulterating beer. Several species have been used in making various forms of beer, but it is not clear what the intended effect might be, although some species appears to have some activity in hydrolysing some carbohydrates. Some species are used as charms and non-specific "medicines".[3]

References

  1. ^ , 1975
  2. ^ a b c The Plant List (2013). Version 1.1. Published on the Internet; http://www.theplantlist.org/ (accessed January 2016)
  3. ^ Watt, John Mitchell; Breyer-Brandwijk, Maria Gerdina: The Medicinal and Poisonous Plants of Southern and Eastern Africa 2nd ed Pub. E & S Livingstone 1962