Apteranthes joannis Plowes
Caralluma joannis Maire, Ceropegia joannis (Maire) Bruyns.
Hermaphrodite plant, succulent, cactiform, with stems branched from the base, stoloniferous, green, which in height do not usually exceed 0.5 m but, spreading along the ground and especially when hanging from slopes or rocks, they can reach up to the 2(4) m long, 1.3-2 cm wide. They are tetragonal, with obtuse angles and concave faces. On the angles there are tiny elongated teeth that, in the juvenile parts, carry the leaves. These are ovate-cuspid and soon deciduous. Inflorescence lateral or terminal, sparse, generally fewer than 10 flowers. The flowers have a very unpleasant odor. They are arranged in lateral umbellate groups, towards the apex of the stem, sessile, with 2-10 flowers. Pedicels 6-8 mm long. Fleshy calyces, with free sepals almost to the base. Corolla 20-25 mm in diameter, rotated, with five acute, triangular lobes, c. 5mm at the base; basally with light and dark bands: the dark are red to dark purple and towards apex they become so dense that the corolla color becomes uniform and warty, with a few fine hairs only on margins near tip. Double and pentamerous crown, with external lobes provided with 2 recurved horns, and the internal ones as long as the anthers, which are yellow. The stigmas are pentagonal and whitish. The fruit is an elongated follicle (8-12 × 1-2.5 cm), smooth, with some longitudinal dark lines, straight and attenuated at the apex.
Flowering:
late summer and early autumn.
Fruiting:
about 2 months after flowering.
Habitat:
Calcareous cliffs under a temperate arid and semi-arid climate, where it grows associated with Argania spinosa, Euphorbia officinarum, Kleinia anteuphorbium and other species typical of the Anti Atlas and the Suss Valley, an area of great biogeographical value in SW Morocco.
Distribution:
Endemic to SE Morocco, for a long time it was only known from the type locality: near Aulús, in the Suss valley, at the lower parts of the High Atlas. Subsequently, two other populations have been discovered in the Western Anti Atlas (in Jbel Igui Emjiun and Jbel Imzi).
Observations:
Because of to the limited number of populations and specimens, it is considered a taxon in critical danger of extinction; however, this category could change, to the extent that its presence in the Anti Atlas is clarified. It has been observed that it can be displaced from its habitat of small ledges in calcareous crags by the invasive alien species Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill., which becomes feral and colonizes these environments very well.
Conservation status:
Very rare and threatened species. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. In the Livre Rouge de la flore vasculaire du Maroc (Fennane, 2021) it has been considered as Critically Endangered (CR).