Caralluma

{{Short description|Genus of plants}} {{Automatic taxobox |image = Caralluma adscendens 162394694.jpg |image_caption = ''Caralluma adscendens'' flower |display_parents = 2 |taxon = Caralluma |authority = R.Br. |subdivision_ranks = Species |subdivision = See text |synonyms = ''Sarcocodon'' N.E.Br. ''Spathulopetalum'' Chiov. |synonyms_ref = <ref name="GRIN">{{cite web |url=http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/genus.pl?2064 |title=Genus: ''Caralluma'' R. Br. |work=Germplasm Resources Information Network |publisher=United States Department of Agriculture |date=2004-04-15 |access-date=2010-11-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121009071003/http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/genus.pl?2064 |archive-date=2012-10-09 |url-status=dead }}</ref> }} thumb|250px|left|''Caralluma subulata'', Yemen

'''''Caralluma''''' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apocynaceae, consisting of about 30 species.

In 1795 William Roxburgh published the name ''Stapelia adscendens'' for a plant found in India. He commented that the name for the plant in the Telugu language was ''Car-allum'' and that the succulent branches are edible raw, though bitter and salty.<ref name="Coast of Coromandel">{{cite book |last1=Roxburgh |first1=William |title=Plants of the Coast of Coromandel Volume I |date=1795 |volume=v.1 |publisher=George Nicol, Pall-Mall, London |pages=28–29 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/9711#page/21/mode/1up |access-date=2020-03-17}}</ref> The name ''Caralluma'' was coined by Robert Brown for a new genus in an article published in 1811. At the time he only described one species in the genus, the plant that he renamed ''Caralluma adscendens''.<ref name="Asclepiadeæ">{{cite journal |last1=Brown |first1=Robert |title=On the Asclepiadeæ |journal=Memoirs of the Wernerian Natural History Society |date=1811 |volume=I |pages=12–78 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/165544#page/63/mode/1up |access-date=2020-03-17}}</ref>

In 1996 Helmut Genaust published the suggestion that it was sensible to conclude that the generic name is derived from the Arabic phrase ''qahr al-luhum'', meaning "wound in the flesh" or "abscess," referring to the floral odour. Genaust was unaware that the genus ''Caralluma'' existed east of Palestine. He specifically ruled out its existence in India, where it was first described and named. Genaust presumed that the name would have first been applied to ''Caralluma europaea'' (now called ''Apteranthes europaea'') in North Africa.<ref name="Genaust">{{cite book |last1=Genaust |first1=Helmut |title=Etymologisches Wörterbuch der botanischen Pflanzennamen |date=1996 |publisher=Birkhäuser |isbn=3764323906}}</ref> In 2012, the editors of the ''Caralluma'' entry for the ''Flora Iberica'' addressed this suggested Arabic etymology: "... however, among the numerous common names for these plants in the Arab world, we have not found one that even comes close".<ref name="Iberica">{{cite book |last1=Ortiz Ballesteros |first1=Pedro Luis |last2=Arista Palmero |first2=Montserrat |title=Flora Iberica Volumen XI Gentianaceae - Boraginaceae |date=2012 |publisher=Real Jardín Botánico, CSIC |location=Madrid |isbn=978-84-00-09415-7 |pages=126-129 |url=https://bibdigital.rjb.csic.es/viewer/15518/?offset=19#page=176&viewer=picture&o=search&n=0&q= |access-date=6 February 2026 |language=Spanish |chapter=Caralluma |quote=... sin embargo, entre los numerosos nombres vulgares de estas plantas en el mundo árabe, no hemos encontrado ninguno que ni siquiera se le aproxime]}}</ref>

Species from the genus ''Caralluma'' occur in tropical Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar.<ref name=POWO /> Several taxa are valued by people as food and for their medicinal properties.<ref name="Useful">{{cite book |last1=Pattock |title=Unfinished Notes On The Useful Asclepiads Volume 1: Plant Uses |date=2026 |publisher=Pat's Flower Press |location=Manchester |pages=56-64 |url=https://archive.org/details/unfinished-notes-on-the-useful-asclepiads-volume-1-plant-uses/page/n55/mode/2up |access-date=10 March 2026}}</ref>

==Accepted Species== As of July 2025, POWO accepts the following species:<ref name=POWO>{{Cite web |title=Caralluma R.Br. {{!}} Plants of the World Online {{!}} Kew Science |url=http://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:30343894-2 |access-date=2025-07-26 |website=Plants of the World Online |language=en}}</ref> * Caralluma adscendens * Caralluma arachnoidea * Caralluma attenuata * Caralluma baradii * Caralluma bhupinderiana * Caralluma congestiflora * Caralluma dalzielii * Caralluma darfurensis * Caralluma dicapuae * Caralluma edwardsiae * Caralluma fimbriata * Caralluma flavovirens * Caralluma furta * Caralluma geniculata * Caralluma gracilipes * Caralluma lamellosa * Caralluma longiflora * Caralluma moniliformis * Caralluma moorei * Caralluma mouretii * Caralluma peckii * Caralluma petraea * Caralluma plicatiloba * Caralluma priogonium * Caralluma sarkariae * Caralluma stalagmifera * Caralluma subulata * Caralluma turneri * Caralluma vaduliae * Caralluma wilhelmii

===Formerly placed here=== Source:<ref name=POWO/>

*''Apteranthes'' spp. *''Australluma'' spp. *''Boucerosia'', including ''Boucerosia frerei'' previously ''Frerea indica''. *''Caudanthera'' spp. *''Desmidorchis'' spp. *''Duvaliandra'' *''Echidnopsis'' spp. *''Monolluma'' spp. *''Notechidnopsis'' *''Orbea'' spp. *''Pectinaria'' spp. *''Piaranthus'' spp. *''Pseudolithos'' spp. *''Quaqua'' spp. *''Rhytidocaulon'' spp. *''Stapelia'' spp. *''Tromotriche'' spp. *''White-sloanea''

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons category}} {{Wikispecies}} * [http://www.ipni.org/index.html International Plant Names Index]

Category:Asclepiadoideae Category:Apocynaceae genera Category:Taxa named by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)