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''Cadaba aphylla'' ("Swartstorm") is one of the many species in the genus ''
It grows as a straggly, perennial shrub or small tree, virgate, much-branched, dark green, often with purple bloom, and usually leafless, and may reach 2 meters in height. Its branches are somewhat succulent and frequently spine-tipped. Leaves of some 10 x 2 mm are found on seedlings and young branchlets.
Its deep-red flowers (rarely yellow) in axillary clusters have prominently exserted stamens, making this a colourful plant in summer. Fruits are some 90 mm in length, green at first, turning a rusty brown when mature, and covered in sticky hairs. A sticky orange pulp covers the small black seeds.
Distribution map
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15545222 aphylla
Cadaba
''Cadaba'' is a genus of shrubs in family Capparaceae, with about 30 species. These have simple, alternately set leaves. The zygomorphic flowers, are solitary or stand in small clusters at the end of short side branches. These flowers consist of ...
''. It is indigenous to southern Africa
Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number o ...
.
Description
It grows as a straggly, perennial shrub or small tree, virgate, much-branched, dark green, often with purple bloom, and usually leafless, and may reach 2 meters in height. Its branches are somewhat succulent and frequently spine-tipped. Leaves of some 10 x 2 mm are found on seedlings and young branchlets.
Its deep-red flowers (rarely yellow) in axillary clusters have prominently exserted stamens, making this a colourful plant in summer. Fruits are some 90 mm in length, green at first, turning a rusty brown when mature, and covered in sticky hairs. A sticky orange pulp covers the small black seeds.
Distribution
This species may occur in dry bushveld or semidesert conditions fromtropical Africa
Although tropical Africa is mostly familiar to the West for its rainforests, this biogeographic realm of Africa is far more diverse. While the tropics are thought of as regions with hot moist climates, which are caused by latitude and the trop ...
to Namibia
Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...
, Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...
, Botswana
Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalaha ...
, and South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
.
At its southern extent, it occurs in clay-rich soils in the Little Karoo
The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe !Orakobab or Khoemana word ''ǃ’Aukarob'' "Hard veld") is a semi- desert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its ...
and Overberg
__NOTOC__
Overberg is a region in South Africa to the east of Cape Town beyond the Hottentots-Holland mountains. It lies along the Western Cape Province's south coast between the Cape Peninsula and the region known as the Garden Route in the ...
regions, as far south-west as the town of Montagu.Vlok, J.H.J. (2010). ''Plants of the Klein Karoo''. Umdaus Press.
References
External links
Distribution map
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15545222 aphylla