Stapelia x Berlinensis

[Herts Mike]

I have this although not yet big enough to flower.

Does anybody know anything about it ( I’m looking at you Pattock)?

The best I can find is a hybrid between a Stapelia and an Orbea but which ones?

[Ali Baba]

From what I can see online it looks like the parents are unknown although the shape of the flower suggests one of the parents has a cup shaped flower and the other an Orbea variegata type

[Pattock]

I hadn't heard of this one before. All I can provide are what anyone could find with Google.

International Asclepiad Society Seedlists
1988 * 343 * vZ 334 * van Zanten, J.
1989 * 421 * vZ 334 * van Zanten, J.

Rowley did not include it in his "Intergeneric hybrids in Asclepiadaceae tribe Ceropegieae" in Asklepios 89 (2003). He only included properly published hybrids. However, if it is a cross between Orbea and Stapelia he suggests that would be X Orbelia.

The earliest mention I can find is in Hortus Third: A Concise Dictionary of Plants Cultivated in the United States and Canada (1976, produced by the Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium of Cornell University in New York):

berlinensis: a listed name of no botanical standing, applied to a plant with large, purple-black fls.

https://archive.org/details/hortusthird ... 0/mode/2up

The New York Botanical Garden Illustrated Encyclopedia of Horticulture Q-Sta (1982) has a black and white photo and states:

S. berlinensis is a name without botanical acceptance. It is applied to a cultivated plant that perhaps is a very dark-flowered variant of S. maculosa. It has four-angled, purplish- tinged stems with small, spreading teeth. The black-purple, star-shaped flowers, 3½ inches across, have pale green stamens and a purple-spotted pistil.

https://archive.org/details/encyclopedi ... 8/mode/2up

If it were Stapelia x maculosa then it would be a × Tromostapelia according to some, though POWO prefers Orbea × maculosa Donn ex Haw. though that name is unplaced and they also give the synonyms; × Gonostapelia maculosa (Donn ex Haw.) P.V.Heath, Stapelia × maculosa (Donn ex Haw.) Jacq and × Tromostapelia maculosa (Donn ex Haw.) G.D.Rowley. They have herbarium specimens on that page as well.
http://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:l ... es:99902-1

Stapelia maculosa was first described properly in 1812 and illustrated in Curtis's in 1816. It was mentioned before then and introduced before 1804.
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/pag ... 6/mode/1up
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/ite ... 8/mode/1up

This website https://naturalezatropical.com/stapelia-x-berlinensis/ has Stapelia x berlinensis as being the same as Stapelia x incomparabilis. Which was designated × Tromostapelia mutabilis var. incomparabilis (N.E.Br.) P.V.Heath in Calyx 3: 34 (1993). Unfortunately, Calyx was a mayfly journal now only found in the most complete botanical libraries. Very irritating to search for any mention online as "calyx" is quite a common word. The last time I tried, I came to the conclusion there are no digital copies online and even if there were, they would be sour.

The original descriptions of Stapelia x incomparabilis by NE Brown do not sound like the photo that website provides or the rather variable pictures of Stapelia x berlinensis or Orbea x berlinensis that come up in a search. As seed has been available for at least 30 years, I imagine some plants by these names may now have a much more complicated heritage.

https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/ite ... 3/mode/1up
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/pag ... 5/mode/1up
Herbarium specimen: http://specimens.kew.org/herbarium/K000306221

The Herbarium of the Berlin Free University Botanic Garden does not have a Stapelia x berlinensis but does have a rather old-looking but undated specimen of Stapelia maculosa. It looks dark-flowered, but that may just be the result of drying and ageing.
https://ww2.bgbm.org/Herbarium/specimen ... BW05314010

In brief, we know little except it is a plant.

[ralphrmartin]

Mine's in bud right now, so hopefully I can share a picture in a day or two.

[Herts Mike]

Well done Pattock!

[ralphrmartin]

As promised, here's my plant in flower.

[el48tel]

Ralph

[Pattock]

Ralph, that looks very, very like the 1982 photo and description, unlike most of the recent photos on the net that I looked at from people who believe they have Stapelia x "berlinensis".

Is the flower about 3½ inches across? Do you know anything about your plant's history?

[Diane]

That’s nice!

[ralphrmartin]

Ralph, that looks very, very like the 1982 photo and description, unlike most of the recent photos on the net that I looked at from people who believe they have Stapelia x "berlinensis".

Is the flower about 3½ inches across? Do you know anything about your plant's history?

I'm afraid all I know is that I got it from someone at ELK in 2019, but I'm afraid I didn't keep a record of which seller, sorry. However, it could well have been these people:
http://www.stapelia-paradise.com/index. ... es&lang=EN

The stems look very much like those of Orbea variegata, and I'd say 3.5" is about right. It's perhaps slightly bigger than an Orbea variegata flower.

Although I have great respect for Cok Grootscholten, my plant does appear a better match to that article than his plant here, for example:
https://grootscholten.fotki.com/plant-c ... sis-1.html