Curio ficoides
{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = Flat-leaved senecio
| image = Curio ficoides 1DS-II 3-6436.jpg
| image_caption = In the Karoo Desert Botanical Garden, Western Cape, South Africa
|taxon = Curio ficoides
|authority = Curio ficoides (L.) & P.V.Heath (1999)
|synonyms = Cacalia ficoides L.
Kleinia ficoides (L.) Haw.
Senecio ficoides (L.) Sch.Bip.
Sources: IPNI,{{IPNI
| id = 245108-1
| title = Senecio ficoides Sch.Bip
| date = 2008-05-24
}} AFPD{{cite web
| url = http://www.ville-ge.ch/cjb/bd/africa/details.php?langue=an&id=98122
| archive-url = https://archive.today/20130116143041/http://www.ville-ge.ch/cjb/bd/africa/details.php?langue=an&id=98122
| url-status = dead
| archive-date = 2013-01-16
| title = Senecio ficoides (L.) Sch.Bip. record n° 98122
| accessdate = 2008-05-24
| work = African Plants Database
| publisher = South African National Biodiversity Institute, the Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la Ville de Genève and Tela Botanica
}}
|}}
Curio ficoides, syn. Senecio ficoides, also known as skyscraper senecio, Mount Everest senecio or flat-leaved senecio, is a species of succulent plant, in the genus Curio (Asteraceae), indigenous to South Africa.
Description
File:Curio ficoides 1DS-II 3-6437-01.jpg
A succulent, spreading shrub, it reaches over 1 meter in height. The brittle, succulent branches lose their leaves lower down.
The leaves are blue-green to blue grey, pruinose, succulent, erect, tapering and flattened laterally, with translucent lines down both sides.
The flower capitula have no ray florets, and appear on a terminal, branching inflorescence.
=Relatives=
This is a polyploid species (2n=100). However, its closest relatives are Curio repens, Curio radicans, Curio herreanus, and Curio hallianus, which have a variable number of chromosomes.
It is easily confused with Curio talinoides, which has a similar growth habit. However, the leaves of C. talinoides are rounded-cylindrical in cross section. In contrast, the leaves of C. ficoides are usually somewhat knife-like, flattened laterally.{{cite book|author=Gordon D. Rowley |year=1994|title=Succulent Compositae: A Grower's Guide to the Succulent Species of Senecio & Othonna|publisher= Strawberry Press |isbn=9780912647128}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{commonscat-inline}}
- {{UniProt Taxonomy
| name = Senecio ficoides
| id = 405113
| accessdate = 2008-05-24
}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q7450389}}