Caralluma burchardii
Apteranthes burchardii
Burchard's Flying Flower ( Apteranthes burchardii ) is a species of the subfamily of milkweed plants ( Asclepiadoideae ). The Nominat subspecies is endemic to the Canary Islands. The second subspecies occurs in Morocco.
Features
Burchard's Flying Flower is a perennial stem succulent plant that consists of little branched, upright stems with underground runners. They form " clusters " with diameters of up to 60 cm. The stems are irregularly arranged and green to light gray, rarely reddish- spotted. They have a length of 15 to 50 cm and a diameter of up to 2.5 cm. The cross-section is square, even with vierrippig downward protuberances on the edges. The stems grow after flowering mainly in thickness. The leaves are very small ( about 1.5 mm) and bent down and appear only on the very young shoots.
The zymöse inflorescence contains three to nine flowers. The hermaphrodite, radiärsymmetrische, fivefold corolla measures 13 to 16 mm in diameter and has a double perianth on. The five sepals are fused, as are the five dark brown-red petals. The corolla is flat or has a slightly belled by slightly curved forward crown tip. The corolla lobes are deeply cut, pointed, up to 4 mm long and wide at the base to about 3.5 mm. They are usually densely covered with soft, whitish hairs. The edges are slightly curved outward. The corona is colored intensely yellow. There are two free, permanent upper carpels present.
The green or purple striped, slender, 7-8 cm long follicles are arranged in pairs and horn-shaped. The seeds have at one end a tuft of white hairs.
Occurrence
The ( Nominatunter ), is restricted to the major Canary Islands Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote and the Canary islands of Lobos and Graciosa. The subspecies A. Burchardi ssp. maura ( Maire ) occurs in Morocco. In the Canary Islands it is found in succulent. They differ slightly in color of the flower and the structure of the corona.
System
Today, the varieties are burchardii A. purpurascens var and var Apteranthes burchardii sventenii expected to Nominatunterart. Apteranthes burchardii ssp. maura also includes the forms Apteranthes burchardii f grandiflora, Apteranthes burchardii f sordida and Apteranthes burchardii f viridis. This species is named after Oscar Burchard (1863-1949), a German botanist who lived a long time in Tenerife.
The type was made until recently to the genus Caralluma. Plowes proposed the genus Apteranthes to form a circle around A. europaea.