Edithcolea

Structure and classification

Edithcolea belongs to the stapeliads within Apocynaceae. Fleshy stems and flowers with a complex gynostegium link it to other members of this group. POWO accepts the genus with the species E. grandis. The 2017 classification study included it in broadly defined Ceropegia. [Meve et al. 2026] [Bruyns et al. 2017] [2-WWW]

Significance of the 2026 study

Field observations from Tanzania showed pollinium transfer by female Musca xanthomelas, flies that feed on sources including wound secretions and faeces. A separate analysis of a flower from a cultivated plant revealed a rare profile of volatile p-cresyl esters. Together, these results formed the basis of the hypothesis that the central floral depression may mimic a wound attractive as a food source. [Meve et al. 2026]

Species and subspecies of the genus

Species account

Edithcolea grandis

A succulent with large patterned flowers whose pollination by female Musca xanthomelas was described in 2026. The structure of the floral centre and scent composition indicate a particular form of food mimicry. [Meve et al. 2026] [2-WWW]

Czytaj profile

Sources for this account

Article2026

Large-flowered stapeliad Edithcolea grandis (Apocynaceae: Asclepiadoideae) is pollinated by dung- and blood-feeding African face flies (Muscidae: Musca xanthomelas)

Meve U., Heiduk A., Dötterl S., Liede-Schumann S., Large-flowered stapeliad Edithcolea grandis (Apocynaceae: Asclepiadoideae) is pollinated by dung- and blood-feeding African face flies (Muscidae: Musca xanthomelas), TAXON, 2026, 75(5):e70251, doi: 10.1002/tax.70251

Observations of an Edithcolea grandis population in Tanzania document pollination by female Musca xanthomelas. A separate scent analysis was conducted on a flower from a plant cultivated in Germany. The paper describes unusual volatile p-cresyl esters and develops the hypothesis of wound mimicry as a fly food source.

Physiology and anatomyGenusEdithcolea

DOI ↗Article or source page ↗

[2-WWW]Source website

Plants of the World Online — Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

https://powo.science.kew.org/

Accepted names, synonyms and distribution. A citation beside a taxon leads to its record.

Accessed 2026-10-08.

Article2017

A revised, phylogenetically-based concept of Ceropegia (Apocynaceae)

Bruyns P. V., Klak C., Hanáček P., A revised, phylogenetically-based concept of Ceropegia (Apocynaceae), South African Journal of Botany, 2017, 112:399-436, doi: 10.1016/j.sajb.2017.06.021

A proposal for a broad circumscription of Ceropegia that includes Brachystelma and the stapeliad genera. The authors present diagnoses of 63 sections, species lists and more than four hundred new combinations. The classification follows the placement of these lineages within Ceropegia in phylogenetic analyses.

Physiology and anatomyGenusCeropegiaEdithcoleaHuerniaOrbeaStapelia

DOI ↗Article or source page ↗