S.I. ALI

Caralluma edulis Illustration Credit: Surayya Khatoon

Succulent, perennial, branched herbs. Stem erect, branched, 4-angled, glabrous. Leaves small caducous. Flowers single or few or many-flowered sessile lateral cymes or many-flowered inflorescence from the top of the stem. Calyx 5-partite, lobes ovate to linear-lanceolate, Corolla purple or yellowish with purple streaks, rotate or broadly campanulate, 5-lobed, valvate in bud. Corona double, attached to the staminal column; the outer corona of 5 deeply bifid segments; the innner corona of 5 linear segments incumbent on the anthers. Staminal column short, arising from the base of the corolla; anthers without appendages. Pollen mass 1 in each anther cell, with a pellucid margin. Follicles 9-11 cm long, narrowly fusiform, smooth.

A genus with about a hundred species, distributed in Africa, Spain, Arabia, Middle East, Pakistan and India; represented in Pakistan by the two species.

Lower Taxa

• Caralluma edulis (Edgew.) Hook. f.
• Caralluma tuberculata N.E. Brown

Related Synonym(s):

• Boucerosia aucheriana auct. non Dcne. Hook.f. = Caralluma tuberculata N.E. Brown
• Boucerosia edulis Edgew. = Caralluma edulis (Edgew.) Hook. f.
• Boucerosia stocksiana Boiss. = Caralluma edulis (Edgew.) Hook. f.