Hoodia flava
Plant Family
Apocynacae (Formerly Asclepiadaceae), Subfamily Asclepiadoideae
Accepted Binomial Name
Hoodia flava (N.E. Br.) Plowes
Synonymous Binomial Names (Kew 2019d)
Ceropegia flavanthera Bruyns
Trichocaulon flavm N.E. Br.
Trichocaulon karasmontanum Dinter
Common (Vernacular) Names
Soetghaap (Africaans), Yellow flowered ghaap
Subspecies
No subspecies have been identified.
Plant Characteristics
Endemicity. This species occurs in the arid regions of the Northern and Western Cape Provinces of South Africa including the area known as Bushman land (SANBI 2019b). It is also found in southern Namibia from the eastern southern flanks of the Great Keras Mountains (Bruyns 2005).
Growth Habit. Hoodia flava is a small, leafless succulent with thick stems rising to a maximum height of about 50cm from the ground level. The stems have rows of 18-31 spines.
 Hoodia flava |
Flowers. The flowers of this species are small, measuring up to about 12mm in diameter and arranged in groups of 1 to 3 flowers. The flowers are typically yellow-green, less common forms are reddish brown.
 Stem and Typical Flowers of Hoodia flava |
 Typical Flower of Hoodia flava |
 Center of Typical Hoodia flava Flower |
Atypical reddish-purple flowers of what may be a hybrid of Hoodia flava or another misidentified species.
 Flowers of Hoodia flava, Putative Hybrid |
 Flower Center of Putative Hybrid of Hoodia flava |
 Flower Center of Another Putative Hybrid of Hoodia flava |
Fruit and Seeds. The fruiting body consists of two paired, 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
Hoodia flava was assessed as a species of Least Concern (LC) in the Red List of South African Plants (Victor 2005).
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 and Medicinal. Hoodia flava is one of the most valued plants among the indigenous Khoi-San people. It is eaten as a raw food during drought to help suppress hunger and thirst. A stone is used to scrap the thorns off the stem, and the fleshy parts are consumed (SANBI 2019).
Tobacco Flavoring. Plant parts are added to tobacco to give it a sweet licorice flavor (SANBI 2019).
Cultivation
This is one of the most difficult species of Hoodia to cultivate. It is highly intolerant of humidity, low temperatures and excess water (SANBI 2019). This was also our experience with the plant. We were able to keep one specimen alive for about two years at our Maryland facility and it developed multiple shoots. These were removed in an attempt to propagate the plant from cuttings. The parent plant and all of the cuttings succumbed to soft rot. Our plants bloomed frequently but never produced seeds.
Propagation Methods
Seeds. This species can be propagated from seeds planted at less than 5mm depth in fast draining soil mixes.
Cuttings: All of our attempts to propagate this plant from cuttings failed. The cuttings are hihgly suseptable to soft rot and fail to root.
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 highly prone to rot.
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 no longer 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].
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). 2019a. Assessments Last Updated 10/23/19.
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].
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). 2019d. Planta of the World Online. Hoodia flava (N.E.Br.) Plowes. http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:964732-1 [Accessed 18 November 2019].
SANBI (South African National Biodiversity Institute. 2019. Hoodia flava. http://pza.sanbi.org/hoodia-flava [Accessed 03 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].
Victor, J.E. 2005. Hoodia flava (N.E.Br.) Plowes. National Assessment: Red List of South African Plants version 2015.1. Cited in SANBI (2019).
Page last updated January 30, 2022.