''Alluaudia'' is a genus of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s in the family

Didiereaceae Didiereaceae is a family of flowering plants found in continental Africa and Madagascar. It contains 20 species classified in three subfamilies and six genera. Species of the family are succulent plants, growing in sub-arid to arid habitats. Seve ...

. There are six species, all

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

. Most occur in the southwestern subarid forest-thicket vegetation of the island. Species of ''Alluaudia'' are dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants. Spines are arranged around the leaves as a defense against herbivores. The spines are several meters above the ground, and probably evolved in response to herbivory by now-extinct

lemur Lemurs ( ) (from Latin ''lemures'' – ghosts or spirits) are wet-nosed primates of the superfamily Lemuroidea (), divided into 8 families and consisting of 15 genera and around 100 existing species. They are endemic to the island of Madagas ...

s, such as ''

Hadropithecus ''Hadropithecus'' ("bulky ape" from Greek ἁδρός (hadros), "bulky, large" + πίθηκος (pithekos), "ape") is a medium-sized, extinct genus of lemur, or strepsirrhine primate, from Madagascar that includes a single species, ''Hadrop ...

''. Several lemur species living today feed heavily on ''Alluaudia'', such as the ring-tailed lemur (''Lemur catta'') and the white-footed sportive lemur (''Lepilemur leucopus'').Crowley, B. E. and L. R. Godfrey. (2013)
Why all those spines?: Anachronistic defences in the Didiereoideae against now extinct lemurs.
''South African Journal of Science'' 109(1-2), 1-7.

Species

References

External links

GRIN Species Records of ''Alluaudia''.
Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). * http://worldofsucculents.com/how-to-grow-and-care-for-alluaudia/ Didiereaceae Caryophyllales genera Endemic flora of Madagascar Dioecious plants {{Caryophyllales-stub