Hoodia alstonii (N.E. Br) Plowes
Plant Family
Apocynacae (Formerly Asclepiadaceae), Subfamily Asclepiadoideae
Accepted Binomial Name
Hoodia alstonii (N.E. Br.) Plowes
Synonymous Binomial Names (Kew 2019)
Ceropegia alstonii (N.E. Br.) Bruyns
Trichocaulon alstonii, NE. Br.
Trichocaulon halenbergense Dinter
Common (Vernacular) Names
Ghaap (Afrikaans)
Subspecies
No subspecies described.
Plant Characteristics
Endemicity. Found scattered or in small, localized populations in the very arid, winter rainfall areas of southern Namibia and western parts of the Northern Cape Province of South Africa.
Growth Habit. Form generally typical of the genus. It has multiple, upright stems that reach a maximum height of about one meter. They have hard, shape spines.
Flowers. Small, yellow, fetid flowers are borne in large numbers and form mostly on the upper areas of the stems.
Fruit and Seeds. As typical of the genus. The follicles are the smallest of the species in the genus.
Conservation Status
No Hoodia species are currently listed as endangered. Increased awareness and market value of H. gordonii for use in appetite suppressants may have increased mortality associated with unsustainable harvesting of wild plants and this practice could possibly threaten other species of Hoodia. Commercial trade for this purpose is increasing. In addition to increased harvesting, hoodia is also threatened by habitat degradation from agriculture and development (FWS 2019c).
CITES Listing: This and all other species of Hoodia, are listed on Appendix II of CITES. Appendix II includes species not necessarily threatened with extinction, but in which trade must be controlled in order to avoid utilization incompatible with their survival (CITES 2019a). This listing includes all parts and derivatives except those bearing a label:
“Produced from Hoodia spp. material obtained through controlled harvesting and production under the terms of an agreement with the relevant CITES Management Authority of [Botswana under agreement No. BW/xxxxxx] [Namibia under agreement No. NA/xxxxxx] [South Africa under agreement No. ZA/xxxxxx].” (CITES 2019b).
Hybrids of Hoodia species with other species are subject to these requirements (Shippmann 2016). Hoodia seeds are also regulated by CITES (Harcum 2019), contrary to the information posted on the FWS website (USFWS 2019).
IUCN Listing: No assessments of the conservation status of Genus species were found on International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threated Species (IUCN 2019).
U.S. Endangered Species Act Listing Status: This taxon not listed (FWS 2018).
Uses
Food. Stems and pods of the plant are harvested for local use as a food (Fern 2019). The young pods have a sweet flavor (PROTA 2019).
Ornamental Plant. This species is cultivated to a limited extent as an ornamental plant.
Cultivation
This is reportedly one of the easiest species of Hoodia to grow (LLIFE 2019).
Propagation Methods
Hoodia species are most easily propagated from seeds.
Improved Cultivars
No improved cultivars of this species are known to us.
Pests and Diseases
Refer to the sections of this website on diseases and pests of Hoodia. This species is prone to get root rot (LLIFE 2019).
Invasiveness Potential
There are no references indicating that this species is invasive:
Global Invasive Species Database. This species was not found on the database (ISSG 2019).
Hawai‘i-Pacific Weed Risk Assessment (HPWRA). No assessment of this species was found on the HWPRA database (HWPRA 2019a).
Plants and Seeds for Sale
Plants or seeds of this species are scarce. We do not have them in our inventory and it is unlikely that they will be available soon.
References
CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). 2019a. Appendices I, II, and III valid from 4 October 2017. https://www.cites.org/eng/app/appendices.php [accessed 28 October 2019].
CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). 2019b. Appendices I, II, and III valid from 4 October 2017. Annotation #9. https://www.cites.org/eng/app/appendices.php [accessed 28 October 2019].
Fern K. 2019. Tropical Plants Database. 2019-11-03. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Hoodia+alstonii> [Accessed 03 November 2019].
FWS (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service). 2019. Endangered Species Home. Search Endangered Species Database. https://www.fws.gov/endangered/ [accessed 27 October 2019].
GISD.(Global Invasive Species Database) 2018. http://www.iucngisd.org/gisd/search.php [accessed ## Month 2018].
Hawaii-Pacific Weed Risk Assessment (HPWRA). #### Year Accessed. Genus species. https://sites.google.com/site/weedriskassessment/home [accessed 29 October 2019].
Harcum H. 2019. E-mail communication, July 3, 2019 from Heather Harcum, Permits Biologist, International Affairs, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Falls Church, Virginia.
HPWRA (Hawaii-Pacific Weed Risk Assessment). 2019b. Hawai‘i Pacific Weed Risk Assessment Site. https://sites.google.com/site/weedriskassessment/home [accessed 29 October 2019].
IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature). 2019. Version 2019-2. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™. http://www.iucnredlist.org/search [accessed 27 October 2019].
LLIFLE (2019). The Encyclopedia of Succulents. LLIFLE – Encyclopedia of Living Forms
http://www.llifle.com/Encyclopedia/SUCCULENTS/Family/Asclepiadaceae/25794/Hoodia_alstonii [Accessed 03 November 2019].
ISSG (Invasive Species Specialist Group of the IUCN Species Survival Commission) 2019. Global Invasive Species Database. http://www.iucngisd.org/gisd/ [accessed 25 October 2019].
PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa) 2019. Protabase – Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. https://www.prota.org Database not on 03 November 2019. Cited in Fern (2019).
Schippmann U. 2016. Plant Annotations in the CITES Appendices – Implementation Manual – Version 1.0. Bundesamt für Naturschutz (BfN) Federal Agency for Nature Conservation Konstantinstrasse 110, 53179 Bonn, Germany. https://cites.org/sites/default/files/ndf_material/Schippmann_Manual_of_Annotations_V1_2016.pdf [accessed 21 July 2019].
Page last updated January 30, 2022.