Rhytidocaulon is a plant genus in the family Apocynaceae, first described in 1962.[Bally, Peter René Oscar. 1962. Candollea 18: 335][ Tropicos, genus Rhytidocaulon] It is native to northeastern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.
- Species
Species accepted by the Plants of the World Online as of February 2023:
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Rhytidocaulon arachnoideum
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Rhytidocaulon baricum
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Rhytidocaulon ciliatum
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Rhytidocaulon elegantissimum
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Rhytidocaulon fulleri
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Rhytidocaulon macrolobum
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Rhytidocaulon mccoyi
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Rhytidocaulon molamatarense
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Rhytidocaulon paradoxum - Ethiopia
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Rhytidocaulon piliferum - Somalia
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Rhytidocaulon pseudosubscandens
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Rhytidocaulon richardianum - Somalia
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Rhytidocaulon sheilae
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Rhytidocaulon specksii
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Rhytidocaulon splendidum
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Rhytidocaulon subscandens - Somalia, Ethiopia
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Rhytidocaulon tortum - Arabia
- Taxonomy
Phylogenetic studies have shown the genus to be monophyletic, and most closely related to the genus
Echidnopsis which inhabits the same region. Marginally more distantly related is a sister branch comprising the genus
Pseudolithos and the widespread
Caralluma stapeliads of North Africa.
[P. Bruyns, C. Klak, P. Hanacek: Evolution of the stapeliads (Apocynaceae-Asclepiadoideae) - repeated major radiation across Africa in an Old World group. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 2014. v. 77, no. 1, p. 251--263. ISSN 1055-7903.]
