Hoodia dregei
Plant Family
Apocynacae (Formerly Asclepiadaceae), Subfamily Asclepiadoideae
Accepted Binomial Name
Hoodia dregei N.E.Br.
Synonymous Binomial Names (Kew 2019c)
Ceropegia dregei (N.E. Br.) Bruyns
Common (Vernacular) Names
Wolweghaap (Afrikaans), wolves ghaap
Subspecies
No subspecies have been identified.
Plant Characteristics
Endemicity. A rare species known from only five locations between Merweville, Beaufort West and Price Albert in the Great Karoo, Western Cape Province, South Africa (Bruyns 2006a; Raimondo, Victor and Bester (2005).
Growth Habit. The plants are unusually small consisting of only a few stems and rarely exceeding 200mm in height. plants grows partly under bushes or in the open among stones. The tubercles are in arranged in 16-24 rows.
Flowers. The flowers of this species are circular or have five slight lobes. The insides of the flowers have many hairs giving them a woolly appearance.
Fruit and Seeds. As typical of the genus. The fruiting body consists of two horn-like, slender, erect follicles. On ripening the follicles dehisce releasing the seeds. As they are released a tuft of filament-like pappi opens and the seeds are disbursed by air currents.
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 was increasing. This species is potentially threatened by collection as it could be mistaken for Hoodia gordonii (Raimondo, Victor and Bester 2005). 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 Hoodia dregei were found on International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threated Species (IUCN 2019).
Red List of South African Plants Listing: Hoodia dregei was assessed on September 6, 2005. It was described as rare, had a stable population trend and was listed as Vulnerable D2 (Raimondo, Victor and Bester 2005).
U.S. Endangered Species Act Listing Status: This taxon not listed (FWS 2018).
Uses
No records of specific uses of this plant were found
Cultivation
This plant is rare and we found no reports of Hoodia dregei in cultivation.
Propagation Methods
Seeds. Hoodia are easily propagated from seeds.
Cuttings: Hoodia can be propagated from cuttings but we do not recommend the practice as it is much more difficult than production of true cactus (plants in the family cactaceae) from cuttings. Hoodia cuttings are highly subject to rot and we have been unable to get some species and varieties to root. Sometimes a callus forms over the cutting wound and this must be excised to allow root growth. Typically, the majority of cuttings fail to survive and root. Plants grown from cuttings have fewer roots, less vigor, and unstable form, often with few stems from the base and top heavy branching from the main stem.
Improved Cultivars
No improved cultivars of this species are known to us.
Pests and Diseases
No specific information on pests and diseases of this species is available. Refer to the sections of this website on diseases and pests of Hoodia.
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
Bruyns PV. 2006a. Chapter 4. Hoodia. In: Stapeliads of Southern Africa and Madagascar, Vol. I Hatfield, South Africa: Umdaus Press., 92-129.
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].
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].
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). 2019. 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].
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].
Kew (Kew Royal Botanic Gardens). 2019c. Planta of the World Online. Hoodia dregei N.E.Br. http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:98339-1 [Accessed 18 November 2019].
Raimondo D, Victor JE, Bester SP. 2005. Hoodia dregei N.E.Br. National Assessment: Red List of South African Plants version 2017.1 http://redlist.sanbi.org/species.php?species=2705-10 [Accessed 22 November 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.