6883.000 Duvalia Haw.

Stems fleshy, glabrous, 4-6-angled, tubercled with rudimentary leaves arising from the centre of the tubercle and minute glandular stipules on either side at the base. Flowers often arising from the base of the stem. Sepals ovate-lanceolate, acuminate. Corolla a raised cushion-like annulus. Corona of two rows; inner and outer well separated vertically; inner flat and disk-like; outer of 5 swollen lobes borne around the staminal column. Follicles erect, glabrous. Seeds with an apical tuft of hairs.

Derivation of name: named after Henry August Duval (1777 - 1814), French botanist.

Comment: More recent phylogenetic evidence has led to the forming of a very broad concept of the genus Ceropegia including the genus Brachystelma and all known genera within the Stapeliae (Bruyns, P.V., Klak, C. & Hanáček, P., 2017). However we follow Goyder et Al. in Flora Zambesiaca 7(2), 2020 where the inclusion of the Stapeliad genera has not been accepted.

Worldwide: 17 species in Africa.

Botswana: 1 taxon.