Adenium obesum

• Overview
• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Biology
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Overview

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Description

Family Apocynaceae

Trees , shrubs , or vines , rarely subshrubs or herbs, with latex or rarely watery juice. Leaves simple , opposite, rarely whorled or alternate, pinnately veined; stipules absent or rarely present. Inflorescences cymose , terminal or axillary , with bracteoles. Flowers bisexual , 5- [or 4]-merous, actinomorphic . Calyx 5- or rarely 4-partite, quincuncial, basal glands usually present. Corolla 5- or rarely 4-lobed, salverform , funnelform , urceolate , or rarely rotate, lobes overlapping to right or left, rarely valvate . Stamens 5 or rarely 4; filaments short; anthers mostly sagittate , free or connivent into a cone adherent to pistil head , dehiscing longitudinally, base rounded , cordate, sagittate, or prolonged into an empty spur; pollen granular ; disc ringlike or cup-shaped, 2-5-lobed, or absent. Ovaries superior, rarely half-inferior, connate or distinct , 1- or 2-locular; ovules (1 or) 2-numerous per locule. Style 1; pistil head capitate, conical , or lampshade-shaped, base stigmatic, apex 2-cleft and not stigmatic . Fruit a berry, drupe, capsule, or follicle. Seeds with or without coma; endosperm thick and often horny , scanty, sometimes absent; embryo straight or nearly so, cotyledons often large, radicle terete .

About 155 genera and 2000 species distributed primarily in the tropics and subtropics, poorly represented in the temperate regions . Of the 44 genera and 145 species present in China, one genus and 38 species are endemic, and nearly 95% of the taxa grow in the southern and southwestern portions of the country.

Fruit type is highly diversified in the family , and it is diagnostic of many genera. Genera 1-4 produce 1, 2-celled berries from a flower; genus 5 produces 2, 1-celled berries from a flower; 6 and 7 produce mostly fleshy follicles containing deeply indented seeds with ruminate endosperm; 8 has follicles and winged seeds; 9 produces follicles and seeds with 2 comas; 10-12 have follicles with globose seeds; 13-18 have drupes mostly with fleshy mesocarp; 19 has samaroid fruit; 20 has spiny capsules with seeds winged all around; and 21-44 have free or fused follicles and comose seeds. Double flowers are known only from cultivated forms of Nerium oleander, Tabernaemontana divaricata, and Wrightia religiosa.

Plants of the Apocynaceae are often poisonous and are rich in alkaloids or glycosides, especially in the seeds and latex. Some species are valuable sources of medicine, insecticides , fibers, and rubber.[1]

Physical Description

Landscaping

Care: Deer resistant.

Habitat

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 1,108 meters (0 to 3,635 feet).[2]

Biology

Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Growth

Culture: Space 15-18" apart.

Soil: Minimum pH: 6.6 • Maximum pH: 7.8

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun .

Moisture: Drought Tolerance: High

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 9a, 9b, 10a, 10b, 11. (map)

Taxonomy

Notes

Publishing author : Roem. & Schult. Publication : Syst. Veg., ed. 15 bis [Roemer & Schultes] 4: 411 1819

Place of publication: Syst. veg. 4:411. 1819

Name verified on 05-Nov-1985 by ARS Systematic Botanists. Last updated: 22-May-1997

Similar Species

Members of the genus Adenium

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 11 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

A. arabicum (Adenium) · A. multiflorum (Impala Lily) · A. obesum (Desert Rose) · A. obesum multiflorum (Impala Lily) · A. obesum sokotranum (Desert Rose) · A. obesum 'Three Kings' (Desert Rose) · A. oleifolium (Adenium) · A. socotranum (Desert Rose) · A. somalense (Adenium) · A. swazicum (Adenium) · A. 'Bosom Jade' (Desert Rose)

More Info

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Further Reading

• Contributions from the United States National Herbarium 45 2003 Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1890- url p. 146, p. 469, p. 490.
• Curtis's botanical magazine. 89 1863 London; New York [etc.]: Academic Press [etc.] url , , , p. 3.
• Flora of tropical Africa. By Daniel Oliver. .. assisted by other botanists. London, L. Reeve, 1868-1902. url p. 228.
• Hooker, W. J. et al. Niger flora;or, An enumeration of the plants of western tropical Africa, collected by the late Dr. Theodore Vogel, botanist to the voyage of the expedition sent by Her Britannic Majesty to the river Niger in 1841, under the command of Capt. H. D. Trotter, R.N., &c.; including Spicilegia gorgonea, by P. B. Webb, esq., and Flora nigritiana, by Dr. J. D. Hooker. .. and George Bentham, esq. with a sketch of the life of Dr. Vogel. Ed. by Sir W. J. Hooker. .. With two views, a map, and fifty plates. 1849 London, H. Bailliere; [etc., etc.] 1849. url p. 450.
• IUCN Directory of Afrotropical Protected Areas IUCN, UNEP url p. 190, p. 970.
• Journal of ethnobiology. 16 1996 Flagstaff, Ariz.: Center for Western Studies, 1981- url p. 80.
• Journal of the proceedings of the Linnean Society. Botany. 5 1861 London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, & Roberts: ||Williams and Norgate, 1857-1864. url p. vi, p. vii.
• List of intercepted plant pests / United States Department of Agriculture, Plant Quarantine and Control Administration. [Washington, D.C.: U.S. G.P.O.], 1932- url p. 21, p. 57.
• Nicholson, G. The illustrated dictionary of gardening: a practical and scientific encyclopdia of horticulture for gardeners and botanists /edited by George Nicholson; assisted by J.W.H. Trail. .. and J. Garrett. .. 9 1884 London: L.U. Gill, [1884]-88. url p. 447.
• Novon a journal of botanical nomenclature from the Missouri Botanical Garden. 10 2000 St. Louis, MO: Missouri Botanical Garden, url p. 356.
• Oxford gardens, based upon Daubeny's Popular guide to the physick garden of Oxford: with notes on the gardens of the colleges and on the University park, by R. T. Gnther. Oxford: Parker & son; [etc., etc.], 1912. url p. 122.
• Succulent plants in trade from the wild: analysis of conservation status and international trade UK Dept of the Environment, Transport and Regions url p. 157.
• The Bradley bibliography; a guide to the literature of the woody plants of the world published before the beginning of the twentieth century; Cambridge, Riverside Press, 1911-18. url p. 722, p. 76.
• The Garden: an illustrated weekly journal of gardening in all its branches. London: [s.n., url p. 360.
• The Gardeners' chronicle: a weekly illustrated journal of horticulture and allied subjects. London: [Gardeners Chronicle], 1874-1955. url , , , , p. 129, p. 19, p. 225, p. 226, p. 368, p. 47, p. 695.
• The Horticulturist and journal of rural art and rural taste. Albany, N.Y.: Luthur Tucker, 1846/1847-1875 url p. 65.
• The Illustrated dictionary of gardening: a practical and scientific encyclopaedia of horticulture for gardeners and botanists / edited by George Nicholson. ..; assisted by J.W.H. Trail. .. and J. Garrett. ... London: L. Upcott Gill; 1887-1889. url p. 447.
• The Journal of horticulture, cottage gardener and country gentlemen. London: George W. Johnson and Robert Hogg, 1861-1877. url p. 187, p. 345.
• Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. 27 1871 London: [The Society], 1791-1875. url p. 45.
• Vegetable teratology, an account of the principal deviations from the usual construction of plants, by Maxwell T. Masters. .. With numerous illus. by E.M. Williams. London, Published for the Ray society by R. Hardwicke, 1869. url p. 417.
• Tsiang Ying & Li Ping-tao. 1977. Apocynaceae. Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 63: 1-249.

Notes

Contributors

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed March 19, 2012.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal January 12, 2008:

• Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Bishop Museum Natural History Specimen Data
• Missouri Botanical Garden, Missouri Botanical Garden

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 1
• Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:76369-1
• GRIN Nomen Number: 1446
• International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 76369-1
• U.S.D.A. Plant Symbol: ADOB2
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 19587

Footnotes

1. Bingtao Li, Antony J. M. Leeuwenberg & David J. Middleton "Apocynaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 16 Page 143. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
2. Mean = 504.470 meters (1,655.085 feet), Standard Deviation = 442.520 based on 19 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.