''Fockea edulis'' is a species of

caudiciform A caudex (plural: caudices) of a plant is a stem, but the term is also used to mean a rootstock and particularly a basal stem structure from which new growth arises.pages 456 and 695 In the strict sense of the term, meaning a stem, "caudex" is m ...

plant in the family Apocynaceae that is native to South Africa and Namibia.

Taxonomy

Karl Moritz Schumann described this species in 1895. A common name is Hottentot bread due to the milky, somewhat sweetish flavour of the edible root which is sometimes gathered from the wild for local use. The plant's latex is said to be poisonous. In Afrikaans the plant is called bergbaroe, bergkambroo, kambaroo, kambroo, kambro, or hotnotswaatlemoen. In Khoi it is called !Koo, !Ku, or !Kuu.

Description

A semi-deciduous perennial

with fat, twisted grey roots. In the wild, the caudex is partially or totally buried and tends to grow faster this way, reaching up to 60 cm in diameter. The thin vine branches may reach a length of up to 4 meters, and climb on any type of available support. The leaves are green, entire and oblong. Fockeas are

dioecious Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproductio ...

, so a male plant and a female plant are needed to produce seeds. The flowers are whitish-green, not very showy but lightly scented, small (0.6-1.5 cm wide) vygie-like flowers surrounded by a large, thick, spider-like

calyx Calyx or calyce (plural "calyces"), from the Latin ''calix'' which itself comes from the Ancient Greek ''κάλυξ'' (''kálux'') meaning "husk" or "pod", may refer to: Biology * Calyx (anatomy), collective name for several cup-like structures ...

. The flowers are pollinated by fruit flies. The plant produces grey-greenish seed pods.

Distribution and habitat

This species is widespread in southern Africa where it grows in warmer drier areas, dry savannah and rocky slopes. It is of easy cultivation and hardy when kept reasonably dry and watered only enough to keep the tuber from shriveling. Although it shows decreased activity in the January – April period, it never goes into complete dormancy and always carries some leaves. Plants cannot tolerate more than occasional light frosts with temperatures dropping as low as -2 °C.

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q15398374

edulis Edulis, edible in Latin, is a species name present in a number of Latin species names: * '' Acioa edulis'', the Castanha-de-cutia, a fruit and timber tree species * '' Aglaia edulis'', a plant species found in Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indon ...

Plants described in 1895 Flora of South Africa Flora of Namibia