Cryptolepis delagoensis is a species of plant in the Apocynaceae family. It is native to Mozambique and South Africa.[1][2][3] Rudolf Schlechter,[4] the botanist who first formally described the species, named it after the location where the specimen he examined was found near Maputo Bay which was then called Delagoa Bay.[5]
| Cryptolepis delagoensis | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Gentianales |
| Family: | Apocynaceae |
| Genus: | Cryptolepis |
| Species: | C. delagoensis
|
| Binomial name | |
| Cryptolepis delagoensis | |
Description edit
It is a twining plant. Its stems are hairless. Its hairless, papery, elliptical to lance-shaped leaves are 1.5–2.5 by 0.5–0.9 centimeters. The tips of its leaves are pointed to abruptly pointed. The undersides of the leaves are pale. Its petioles are 1.3–2.5 millimeters long. Its short, branched, hairless, Inflorescences have 2–4 flowers. The flowers are on hairless pedicels that are 1.3–1.9 millimeters long. Its flowers have 5 oval, hairless sepals that are 2.5 millimeters long with blunt tips. The 5 petals are fused at their base to form a 3.8 millimeter-long, bell-shaped tube. The oblong, hairless lobes of the petals have blunt tips. The flowers have a ring-like structure between the petals and its stamen called a corona. Its corona have 5 oblong, hairless lobes that have blunt tips and are attached below the throat of the petal tubes. Its stamen have very short filaments and hairless anthers that are lance-shaped to spearheaded. The stigma. The pistils have short conical stigma.[5][6]
Reproductive biology edit
The pollen of Cryptolepis delagoensis is shed as permanent tetrads.[7]
Distribution and habitat edit
It has been observed growing in sandy soil.[5]
References edit
- ^ "Cryptolepis delagoensis Schltr". Plants of the World Online. The Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. n.d. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
- ^ "Cryptolepis delagoensis Schltr". Catalogue of Life. Species 2000. n.d. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
- ^ "Cryptolepis delagoensis Schltr". Tropicos. Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden. n.d. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
- ^ "Friedrich Richard Rudolf Schlechter". International Plant Names Index (IPNI). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries; Australian National Botanic Gardens. Retrieved 2023-07-19.
- ^ a b c Schlechter, R. (1905). "Asclepiadaceae africanae". Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie. 38 (1): 26.
- ^ Brown, N.E. (1907). "Order LXXXVIII. Asclepiadeae". In Thiselton-Dyer, William T. (ed.). Flora capensis :being a systematic description of the plants of the Cape colony, Caffraria, & Port Natal (and neighbouring territories). Vol. IV. Section 1. Vacciniaceae to Gentianeae. London: Lovell Reeve & Co., Ltd. p. 528. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.821.
- ^ Joubert, Lize (2007). A Taxonomic Study of Cryptolepis (Apocynaceae) in Southern Africa (M.Sc. thesis). University of the Free State. OCLC 638720409. Retrieved August 27, 2023.