Caralluma

Caralluma is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apocynaceae, consisting of about 120 species.

Caralluma
Caralluma acutangula inflorescence
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Gentianales
Family: Apocynaceae
Subfamily: Asclepiadoideae
Tribe: Ceropegieae
Genus: Caralluma
R.Br.
Species

See text

Synonyms[1]

Sarcocodon N.E.Br.
Spathulopetalum Chiov.

Caralluma socotrana, Kenya

In 1795 William Roxburgh published the name Stapelia adscendens for a plant found in India. He commented that the name for the plant in the Telugu language was Car-allum and that the succulent branches are edible raw, though bitter and salty.[2] The name Caralluma was coined by Robert Brown for a new genus in an article published in 1811. At the time he only described one species in the genus, the plant that he renamed Caralluma adscendens.[3]

In 1996 Helmut Genaust published the suggestion that it was sensible to conclude that the generic name is derived from the Arabic phrase qahr al-luhum, meaning "wound in the flesh" or "abscess," referring to the floral odour. Genaust was unaware that the genus Caralluma existed east of Palestine. He specifically ruled out its existence in India, where it was first described and named. Genaust presumed that the name would have first been applied to Caralluma europaea in North Africa.[4]

Most of the species occur in Africa, including several taxa valued by people for their medicinal properties.

Selected species
  • Caralluma adscendens (also called Caralluma fimbriata) (Roxb.) R.Br.
  • Caralluma burchardii N.E.Br.
  • Caralluma crenulata Wall.
  • Caralluma dummeri
  • Caralluma edulis (Edgew.) Benth. ex Hook.f.
  • Caralluma europaea (Guss.)
  • Caralluma joannis Maire
  • Caralluma socotrana
  • Caralluma somalica N.E.Br.
  • Caralluma speciosa (N.E.Br.) N.E.Br.

Formerly placed here
  • Frerea indica Dalzell (as C. frerei G.D.Rowley)
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References
  1. "Genus: Caralluma R. Br". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. 2004-04-15. Archived from the original on 2012-10-09. Retrieved 2010-11-03.
  2. Roxburgh, William (1795). Plants of the Coast of Coromandel Volume I. George Nicol, Pall-Mall, London. pp. 28–29. Retrieved 2020-03-17.
  3. Brown, Robert (1811). "On the Asclepiadeæ". Memoirs of the Wernerian Natural History Society. I: 12–78. Retrieved 2020-03-17.
  4. Genaust, Helmut (1996). Etymologisches Wörterbuch der botanischen Pflanzennamen. Birkhäuser. ISBN 3764323906.


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