''Elephantorrhiza suffruticosa'', commonly known as the skew-leaved elephant-root, is a species 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 ...
in the family
. It is a deciduous, multi-stemmed shrub or rarely a tree of 4 to 8 meters tall, which may be found on hills as well as plains.
The type material was obtained south of
Humbe
Humbe is a town and commune in the municipality of Ombadja, province of Cunene, Angola.
It also used to be the location of a Roman Catholic mission station in southern Angola, located ca. 10 km to the north-east of Xangongo, in the tribal area ...
, Angola. ''E. rangei'' of southern Namibia is now considered a synonym.
Range and status
It is native to Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, northern South Africa, southern Angola and northwestern Namibia. An isolated population is present in southern Namibia.
The species is not threatened.
Description
The stems and branches are smooth and reddish-brown. During spring or early summer,
while still leafless, long, sulphur-yellow flower spikes decorate the plants.
Large pods are formed in autumn. The seeds are prominently enveloped by the valves, which are dark brown when ripe. The valves split open and curl back, after detaching from the thickened margins.
The large feathery leaves, reminiscent of Jacaranda leaves, appear in summer.
They are bipinnate with up to 31 pairs of pinnae, each carrying up to 50 pairs of very small leaflets.
The latter are very asymmetric with the midrib running along their extreme inner edge,
rather than the middle, hence its vernacular name.
''Elephantorrhiza rangei''
''Elephantorrhiza rangei''
Harms was named for Paul Range (1879-1952), a naturalist and geologist who travelled extensively in Namibia.
In 1908 he collected material of an isolated population in dry
savanna
A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...
beside the Löwen River, at Naute in southern
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 ...
. The
Naute Dam
The Naute Dam is a dam outside of Keetmanshoop in the ǁKaras Region of Namibia. It was built by Concor between 1970 and 1972 and was officially commissioned in September 1972. It is the third largest dam in Namibia after Hardap Dam to Naute's nor ...
, one of Namibia's largest dams, may have submerged a part of this local population's habitat after its construction in 1970-1972. ''E. rangei'' was feared extinct until a single plant was located near the dam wall in 2005. Its features and measurements were however determined to fall within the known variation of ''E. suffruticosa'', and it was placed in synonymy with the latter.
References
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15534991
Mimosoids
Flora of Namibia
Flora of Angola
Plants described in 1900
Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN