Stapelia acuminata

The square, hairy stems of Stapelia acuminata, the acuminate stapelia, are erect, tinted purple, become from 7,5 cm to 15 cm tall. The small, rudimentary leaves are erect on the compressed angle ridges where they haven’t dropped off yet.

The pale purplish and hairy bud bulging below the open flower as in the photo gives the plant its specific name: acuminata comes from the Latin, acumen meaning a point, referring to the tip of the bud that tapers to a conspicuous point. A few flowers grow in a fascicle on a peduncle that emerges from below the middle of a stem; the flowers opening successively.

The open corolla is five-pointed, softly hairy on its outside, transversally wrinkled and hairless above, dark purple between the yellowish lines, the margins ciliate. The corona has narrow, spreading lobes; the outer one lower, its lobes split and mottled yellowish or purple-brown; the inner one taller with lobes pale red, spotted purple-brown.

The distribution of the species is in the Northern Cape and Western Cape, mainly in Namaqualand, where the first botanical sample of it was collected in 1791. The plant is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (White and Sloane, 1973; www.redlist.sanbi.org).