Dwarf, sparingly branched perennial herbs or undershrubs, often with tuberous rootstock; roots thick, fleshy, soft; stems short, thick, fleshy, soft
Leaves alternate, simple, entire, often closely packed, succulent, green leaves exposed, glabrous or papillate; if more than 2, then in a rosette; stipules, when present, modified into bristly hairs
Inflorescences terminal, erect on an elongated, 2-more-flowered scape, with few slender branches and scattered, bract-like, reduced leaves, or undeveloped
Flowers bisexual, sessile, opening for a few hours in bright sunlight
Sepals 2, soon deciduous
Petals 5, hypogynous, fugaceous, white, pink or red
Stamens many, adhering to base of petals; filaments usually white; anthers yellow
Ovary superior, 1-locular, sessile; ovules many on a free-central placenta; style 3-fid
Fruit a capsule, 3-valved or falsely 6-valved by subdivision; epicarp separating from endocarp and deciduous with bristle between each valve
Seeds with a large empty-celled outer layer, angled or compressed, sometimes 3-winged; embryo slightly curved but not surrounding the small perisperm
x = 9 (polyploidy)
Classification Notes:
Anacampseros and Avonia belong to the tribe Anacampseroteae Nyananyo ex Rowley
Nomenclature:
Anacampseros L.
Linnaeus: 232 (1758) name conserved
Candolle: 355 (1828)
Fenzl: 950 (1839)
Bentham: 157 (1862)
Sonder: 382 (1862)
Pax: 57 (1889)
Pearson & Stephens: 30 (1912)
Burtt Davy: 165 (1926)
Poellnitz: 382 (1933)
Pax & Hoffmann: 253 (1934)
McNeill: 727 (1974)
Nyananyo: 239 (1990)
Carolin: 551 (1993)
Rowley: 105 (1994)
Rowley: 30 (1995)
Anacampseros L. section Anacampseros, Court
Court: 112 (1981)
Gerbaulet: 535 (1992)
Distribution & Notes:
Southern Africa: Species 14 and some subspecies, restricted to region, mainly in arid and semi-arid areas, Namibia, Botswana, Northern Province, North-West, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Northern, Western and Eastern Cape
References:
BENTHAM, G. 1862. Portulaceae. In G. Bentham & J.D. Hooker, Genera plantarum 1. Lovell Reeve & Co., London
BURTT DAVY, J. 1926. Portulacaceae. A manual of the flowering plants and ferns of the Transvaal with Swaziland 1. Longmans, Green & Co., London
CANDOLLE, A.P. DE. 1828. Portulaceae. Prodromus 3. Treuttel & Würtz, Paris
CAROLIN, R.C. 1993. Portulacaceae. In K. Kubitzki, J.G. Rohwer & V. Bittrich, The families and genera of vascular plants - dicotyledons 2. Springer-Verlag, Berlin
COURT, D. 1981. Succulent flora of southern Africa. A.A. Balkema, Cape Town
FENZL, E. 1839. Ordo Portulacaceae. In S.L. Endlicher, Genera plantarum secundum ordines naturales disposita 2. Beck, Vienna
GERBAULET, M. 1992. Die Gattung Anacampseros L. (Portulacaceae). Botanische Jahrbücher 113
LINNAEUS, C. 1758. Opera varia in quibus continentur Fundamenta botanica. Typographia Juntiniana, Lucca
MCNEILL, J. 1974. Synopsis of a revised classification of the Portulacaceae. Taxon 23
NYANANYO, B.L. 1990. Tribal and generic relationship in the Portulacaceae (CENTROSPERMAE). Feddes Repertorium 101
PAX, F. 1889. Portulacaceae. Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien 3,1b
PAX, F. & HOFFMANN, K. 1934. Portulacaceae. Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien, edn 2,16c
PEARSON, H.H.W. & STEPHENS, E.L. 1912. List of the plants collected in the Percy Sladen Memorial Expeditions, 1908-9, 1910-11. Portulacaceae. Annals of the South African Museum 9
POELLNITZ, K. VON. 1933. Anacampseros L. Versuch einer Monographie. Botanische Jahrbücher 65
ROWLEY, G.D. 1994. Anacampseros and allied genera - a reassessment. Bradleya 12/1994
ROWLEY, G.D. 1995. Anacampseros, Avonia, Grahamia. A grower's handbook. The British Cactus and Succulent Society, Hants
Copyright of the content hosted by this website remains with the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), unless stated otherwise. Material from this site may be used in other media, provided that SANBI is acknowledged by the name South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) or refer to the 'How to cite this resource' paragraph on the Home page. Liability disclaimer: Visitors use this site at their own risk and SANBI is not liable for any of the consequences resulting therefrom.
Welcome to Biodiversity Advisor 2.0!
Biodiversity Advisor, developed by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and its Data Partners, is a system that will provide integrated biodiversity information to a wide range of users who will have access to geospatial data, plant and animal species distribution data, ecosystem-level data, literature, images and metadata.
The integrated information comes from our much-loved Botanical Database of Southern Africa (BODATSA) also known as Plants of Southern Africa (POSA), Zoological Database of Southern Africa (ZODATSA), Biodiversity Geographic Information System (BGIS), SANBI's institutional repository (Opus) and others.
The system is still under development, so you may find a few bugs/issues. If you do, please report it via the error reporting button available in various sections of the website or provide us with any useful feedback you may have via the ‘Give us feedback’ option available in the sidebar menu. You can create a free account for yourself by clicking on the user profile icon which will take you through to the login page. Here you can choose the ‘Create an account’ option or simply fill in your details if you have an account already. Having an account on Biodiversity Advisor will provide users with free access to biodiversity resources.
In future, Team SANBI will be able to log in using their day-to-day login details, BGIS users will be able to use their existing accounts and details, and general users will be able to log in using their LinkedIn profile, but for now you will need to create an account.
