Caralluma burchardii is a fleshy and superficially cactus-like

Cactus

A cactus is a member of the plant family Cactaceae. Their distinctive appearance is a result of adaptations to conserve water in dry and/or hot environments. In most species, the stem has evolved to become photosynthetic and succulent, while the leaves have evolved into spines...

 plant

Plant

Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...

 that belongs to the genus Caralluma

Caralluma

Caralluma is a genus of flowering plants in the dogbane family, Apocynaceae, consisting of about 120 species.Once classified in the family Asclepiadaceae, it is now in the subfamily Asclepiadoideae. The generic name is derived from the Arabic word qahr al-luhum, meaning "wound in the flesh" or...

in the subfamily Asclepiadoideae of the 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...

. This species is native to the eastern Canary Islands

Canary Islands

The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...

 archipelago and adjacent Morocco

Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

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On the Canary Islands it is found on the islands of Fuerteventura

Fuerteventura

Fuerteventura , a Spanish island, is one of the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. It is situated at 28°20' north, 14°00' west. At 1,660 km² it is the second largest of the Canary Islands, after Tenerife...

, Lanzarote

Lanzarote

Lanzarote , a Spanish island, is the easternmost of the autonomous Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 125 km off the coast of Africa and 1,000 km from the Iberian Peninsula. Covering 845.9 km2, it stands as the fourth largest of the islands...

 and Gran Canaria

Gran Canaria

Gran Canaria is the second most populous island of the Canary Islands, with a population of 838,397 which constitutes approximately 40% of the population of the archipelago...

, the Tindaya mountains, and La Oliva

La Oliva

La Oliva is a Canarian municipality in the northern portion of the island of Fuerteventura in the Las Palmas province in the Canary Islands The population is 14,042 , its density is 39.43/km² and the area is 356.13 km². The municipality includes the small island of Los Lobos to the northeast...

 with more on the Los Lobos Island and on Graciosa

Graciosa, Canary Islands

There is also a Graciosa in the Azores, see GraciosaGraciosa Island or commonly La Graciosa is a volcanic island in the Canary Islands of Spain, located 2 km north of the island of Lanzarote with the strait named Río. It was formed by the Canary hotspot...

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This stem succulent has flowers which are coloured green to yellow, densely covered with white hairs in the middle, and violet to maroon in a shape of the star.

There are two subspecies

Subspecies

Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...

:

• Caralluma burchardii subsp. burchardii. Canary Islands.
• Caralluma burchardii subsp. maura. Morocco.