Caralluma is a genus of flowering plant

Flowering plant

The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...

s in the dogbane family, Apocynaceae

Apocynaceae

The Apocynaceae or dogbane family is a family of flowering plants that includes trees, shrubs, herbs, and lianas.Many species are tall trees found in tropical rainforests, and most are from the tropics and subtropics, but some grow in tropical dry, xeric environments. There are also perennial herbs...

, consisting of about 120 species.
Once classified in the family Asclepiadaceae

Asclepiadaceae

According to APG II, the Asclepiadaceae is a former plant family now treated as a subfamily in the Apocynaceae...

, it is now in the subfamily Asclepiadoideae. The generic name is derived from the Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

 word qahr al-luhum, meaning "wound in the flesh" or "abscess," referring the floral odour

Carrion flower

Carrion flowers or stinking flowers are flowers that emit an odor that smells like rotting flesh. Carrion flowers attract mostly scavenging flies and beetles as pollinators. Some species may trap the insects temporarily to ensure the gathering and transfer of pollen.- Amorphophallus :Many plants in...

. Most of the species occur in Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

, including several taxa valued by people for their medicinal properties. One species, Caralluma edulis

Caralluma edulis

Caralluma edulis is a succulent species in the plant family Apocynaceae.The leaves and stem are eaten in North Africa.- References :*...

is eaten as a vegetable.

Selected species

• Caralluma acutangula (Decne.) N.E.Br.
• Caralluma adscendens (Roxb.) R.Br.
• Caralluma burchardii
  Caralluma burchardii
  Caralluma burchardii is a fleshy and superficially cactus-like plant that belongs to the genus Caralluma in the subfamily Asclepiadoideae of the family Apocynaceae...
  
  N.E.Br.
• Caralluma crenulata
  Caralluma crenulata
  Caralluma crenulata is a succulent, superficially cactus-like species in the plant family Apocynaceae, genus Caralluma.Native to Myanmar. Cultivated in gardens around the world for its beautiful red and yellow striped flowers.- External links :...
  
  Wall.
• Caralluma edulis
  Caralluma edulis
  Caralluma edulis is a succulent species in the plant family Apocynaceae.The leaves and stem are eaten in North Africa.- References :*...
  
  (Edgew.) Benth. ex Hook.f.
• Caralluma europaea (Guss.)
• Caralluma fimbriata
  Caralluma fimbriata
  Caralluma fimbriata is a succulent plant in the family Apocynaceae. It has been eaten in rural India for centuries, raw, as a vegetable with spices, or preserved in chutneys and pickles, and is often found as a roadside shrub or boundary marker....
  
  Wall.
• Caralluma joannis Maire
• Caralluma negevensis Zohary ex Feinbrun
• Caralluma somalica N.E.Br.
• Caralluma speciosa (N.E.Br.) N.E.Br.

Formerly placed here

• Frerea indica
  Frerea
  Frerea is a genus which contains only one species, Frerea indica , a small succulent native to the Junnar hill forest in the Western Ghats in Maharashtra state in India. It is also grown as a greenhouse plant by succulent plant enthusiasts...
  
  Dalzell (as C. frerei G.D.Rowley)

External links

• International Plant Names Index