Angiosperms (Flowering Plants) • Earth.com

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(Anacampseros telephiastrum)

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Description

Anacampseros telephiastrum is a species of succulent plant native to the southern Karoo region of the Western Cape and Eastern Cape Provinces of South Africa, from Robertson in the west, to Somerset East in the east. A small branching species with loosely-held 18mm long leaves. The leaves are brown-green with papillae and tiny points (mucros) at their tips. (Unlike its relative Anacampseros rufescens, its leaves are not reddish below.) An. telephiastrum has relatively few axillary hairs, and its hairs or bristles are shorter than its leaves or sometimes even barely visible. The pink flowers have 30-45 stamens and appear on a bracteose inflorescence. It co-occurs with several related species of Anacampseros, but favours specific conditions. It inhabits spots that are slightly more arid than those in which Anacampseros retusa grows. However, in spots that are more arid still, it tends to be replaced by the related Anacampseros arachnoides. Anacampseros L. is a genus comprising about a hundred species of small perennial succulent plants native to Southern Africa, Ethiopia and Latin America. The botanical name Anacampseros is an ancient one for herbs supposed to restore lost love. The Australian species Grahamia australiana was at one time included in the genus Anacampseros, but the entire genus now is regarded as Southern African, and no longer includes any Australian representatives. Plants in the genus Anacampseros are perennial. In habit they are small undershrubs or sprawling herbs that may form dense mats. Mature plants of many of the species form a small caudex or a tuberous root-stock. The leaves of most species are succulent and may be either lanceolate in shape or rounded. The arrangement of leaves on a stem is alternate. The leaves in most species are closely spaced, and in some species they are small and more or less hidden by papery or filamentous fascicled stipules. Some species have sessile flowers, often in an involucre. Other species bear their flowers on racemose peduncles. In contrast to the alternately born leaves, the bracts are opposite and scarious. The flowers are actinomorphic with two caducous sepals and five fugacious petals. The petals may be white, pink, or even pale purple. The plants flower from time to time in summer, and open on sunny days only.

Taxonomic tree:

Domain:
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order:Caryophyllales
Family:Anacampserotaceae
Genus:Anacampseros
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