Hoodia
(a commemorative name). SYNS. Monothylaceum, Scytanthus. ORD. Aslepiadeae. A genus comprising three remarkable species of greenhouse succulent perennials, inhabiting Angola and South Africa. Flowers large, often solitary, shortly pedicellate; corolla rotate, with a very short tube, and a large, dilated, faintly five-lobed limb. Stems fleshy, many-angled, Cactus-like, thickly covered at the angles with strong prickles, which are dilated at the base. For culture, see Stapelia.
H. Bainii (Bain's). fl. produced near the apices of the branches, one to three together; calyx short, five-partite; segments acuminate; corolla pale buff-yellow, becoming purplish in decay, cup-shaped, about 3in. in diameter; margin with five recurved teeth, the apices of the obsolete lobes; corona double. July. Stems numerous from the crown, ashy-green, cylindric, leafless; younger portion with closely-set, spirally-arranged, laterally-compressed tubercles, ultimately confluent into more or less marked prominent longitudinal ridges; tubercles tapering into a stout, sometimes deflexed, brown prickle. Karroo, 1876. (B. M. 6348.) H. Gordoni (Gordon's). fl. produced near the apices of the branches, one to three together, shortly petiolate; calyx short, five-partite; corolla with a very short tube; lobes pale brownish flesh-coloured, glabrous. Stems numerous from the crown, erect or somewhat spreading, cylindric, slightly branched, leafless; younger portions with closely-set, spirally-arranged tubercles, each with a strong, slightly-deflexed prickle swollen at the base. Orange River, 1874. (B. M. 6228.)