Didiereaceae

Didiereaceae
Didiereaceae
Alluaudia montagnacii
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Core eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Didiereaceae
Drake del Castillo

Didiereaceae is a small family of just four genera and 11 species of flowering plants endemic to south and southwest Madagascar, where they form an important component of the Madagascar spiny forests.

Contents

Description

The plants are spiny succulent shrubs and trees from 2-20 m tall, with thick water-storing stems and leaves that are deciduous in the long dry season. Some species build a distinct youth form as small procumbent shrub before a dominant stem is produced.

All species are dioecious (Decaria female-dioecious). The leaves, produced from areoles like in cacti, are small, appear single or in pairs and are accompanied by conical spines. The flowers are unisexual (except from Decaria) and radial symmetric.

The family is sometimes included within the Portulacaceae, but is treated as distinct by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. It is also closely related to the New World family Cactaceae (cacti), sufficiently closely so that the species of Didiereaceae can be grafted successfully on some cacti.

Key to the genera

1 Spines in groups of 4 or more: Didierea
- Spines single or in pairs: → 2
2 Shoots striking zigzagged, spines short conical: Decarya
- Shoots not zigzagged, spines long conical to needle-like: → 3
3 Shrubs strongly branched, leaves lanceolate: Alluaudiopsis
- Shrubs little branched, leaves either ovate to circular or scale-like and awl-shaped: Alluaudia

Genera and species

Alluaudia (Drake) Drake 1903

Alluaudiopsis Humbert & Choux 1934

  • Alluaudiopsis fiherensis Humbert & Choux 1934
  • Alluaudiopsis marnieriana Rauh 1961

Decaria Choux 1929

  • Decaria madagascariensis Choux 1929

Didierea Baillon1880

Several of the species are grown as indoor ornamental plants in specialist succulent collections.

Gallery


Literature

  • Eggli, Urs (Ed.): Sukkulentenlexikon Band 2: Zweikeimblättrige Pflanzen (Dicotyledonen) Eugen Ulmer Verlag, Germany 2002. ISBN 3-8001-3915-4

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Didiereaceae — Didierea madagascariensis Systematik Unterabteilung: Samenpflanzen (Spermatophytina) Klasse …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Didiereaceae — Didiereaceae …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Didiereaceae — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda ? Didiereaceae Alluaudia montagnacii Clasific …   Wikipedia Español

  • Didiereaceae — Didiereaceae …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Didiereaceae — …   Википедия

  • Семейство дидиереевые (Didiereaceae) —         Растения этого семейства столь необычны по габитусу, так напоминают кактусовидные молочаи или кактусы, что долгое время вопрос о принадлежности их к тому или другому порядку цветковых оставался открытым. И лишь в последние десятилетия… …   Биологическая энциклопедия

  • Didieréacée — Didiereaceae Didiereaceae …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Didieréacées — Didiereaceae Didiereaceae …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Alluaudiopsis —   Alluaudiopsis …   Wikipedia Español

  • Fettpflanze — Sukkulente Pflanzen speichern Wasser in ihren Pflanzenteilen, hier in den Blättern von Aloe vera. Sukkulenten (von lateinisch succus = Saft) sind saftreiche Pflanzen, die an besondere Klima und Bodenverhältnisse angepasst sind. Im Bereich der… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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