Orbea maculata subsp. maculata

Orbea maculata subsp. maculata, previously known as Caralluma maculata and commonly the spotted caralluma, is a dwarf stem succulent that forms clumps of up to 12 stems, spreading underground by rhizomes.

The usually four-angled stems are erect with prominent teeth, up to 1,5 cm long, spaced along the angles where vestigial leaves are usually absent. Each deltoid or triangular tooth usually bears two tiny secondary teeth near its tip. Stem colour is pale green with purple-brown blotches.

Inflorescences of up to three flowers grow on long, fleshy pedicels emerging from the mid-section of stems at leaf nodes; flowers opening in succession. Lance-shaped sepals of 1 cm are present.

The five corolla lobes are long and narrow, oblong before tapering to their acutely pointed tips. The corolla is pale creamy or greenish yellow with maroon dots or short, transversal lines scattered along its inner surface, the maroon taking over uniformly at the lobe tips. The specific epithet, maculata is derived from the Latin word macula meaning a spot, referring to the spotted corolla. The lobe margins have long, club-shaped vibratile hairs in their lower parts, white and shiny in picture, serving to tantalise pollinators further than what colour and smell have already done, by moving in the slightest of breezes.

The corona is dark purple-red, the inner corona five-lobed and fused with the outer one. Flower diameter is about 5 cm. Blooming happens from midsummer to autumn.

The subspecies grows in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal, also beyond the border in Botswana and Zimbabwe. The plants grow in wooded grassland in deep sandy soils in the open or under trees, on land subject to hot summers and dry winters. The subspecies is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Hardy and Fabian, 1992; White and Sloane, 1937; www.redlist.sanbi.org).