Editorial: Darwin and Kew anniversaries

Charles Darwin was born 200 years ago this year and his monumental work On the origin of species, laying the foundation of modern evolutionary theory driven by natural selection, was published 150 years ago. Earlier in 1759, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, were established. This year's special issue of Bradleya celebrates these anniversaries with the principal theme of evolution of succulents. Bradleya 27 includes the following articles: •Editorial: Darwin and Kew anniversaries by Colin Walker •Charles Darwin's succulent plants by Gordon D Rowley •Living under temporarily arid conditions - succulence as an adaptive strategy by Urs Eggli and Reto Nyfeller •Evolution of cacti driven by genetic drift not selection bt Root Gorelick •Evolution of characters in the Opuntioideae by M Patrick Griffith •Insect flower visitors and pollinators of cacti from the southwest USA by Zlatko Janeba •On the evolution of nectaries in the Aizoaceae by H.E.K Hatrmann and I.M.Niesler •Kew and its collections of succulent plants by David Hunt and Nigel Taylor •The composite structure of cactus spines by Urs Schlegel •Stapelia hirsuta L. and early portrait by H.A.Jonkers •Rectification of a mistake by G.W.Reynolds on a Malagasy Aloe (Asphodelaceae) and description of a new species by Jean-Bernard Castillon •The identity of Sansevieria arborescens (Ruscaceae), with an amplified description and description of a new species by Leonard E.Newton •Priority of Aloe teissieri over Aloe andohahelensis by Susan Carter and John Lavranos •Ceropegia thailandica (Asclepiadoideae-Ceropegieae), a spectacular new Thai species by Ulrich Meve •Aloe arborescens Miller (Asphodelaceae) is spreading in Portugal by Gideon F.Smith and Estrela Figueired

Aloe tomentosa - a species with unusual hairy flowers from the Yemen

Aloe tomentosa is unusual within the huge diversity of this large genus, since it is one of a small group with hairy flowers that have a limited distribution in the Horn of Africa and southern Arabia

<i>Aloe cremnophila</i> and <i>Aloe jacksonii</i> - cliff-dwellers from the Horn of Africa.

Aloe cremnophila and A. jacksonii are described and illustrated as obligate cremnophytes, namely plants that only grow on cliffs. A. cremnophila is endemic to Somalia, whilst A. jacksonii comes from the Ogaden in Ethiopia

Foreword

South Africa, Namibia and south western Angola are home to the Bushman Candles, the Monsonia species known as sarcocaulons. These hardy plants inhabit dry areas of low and erratic rainfall as well as deserts. The flowers are remarkable in both their beauty and symmetry and are sometimes borne in such profusion that the branches that hold them are barely visible. These fascinating plants have been the focus of ecologically based studies by the two authors for a period of some sixty years between them. Much of the information presented in the text is unique with detailed reference as to how each of the 15 species is not only adapted to but also thrives in its specific environment. The book is dedicated to the late Ellaphie Ward-Hilhorst, a well known botanical artist of extraordinary talent. Each of Ellaphie’s paintings featuring the sarcocaulon species is meticulously reproduced life size in the book

My first flowering of <i>Aloe reynoldsii</i>

Aloe reynoldsii is an obligate cremnophyte that has a limited distribution on cliffs along the Bashee River in the humid Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Its flowering in cultivation is described and illustrated. This species is named in honour of Gilbert Reynolds, doyen of Aloe students, whose monograph (1950, 1966) is the standard work on the genus

Introducing the genus <i>Phedimus</i>

The Eurasian genus Phedimus is a member of the Crassulaceae, first described 200 years ago in 1817, so its bicentennial is worthy of celebration. It remained in relative obscurity until 1995 when it was revived and expanded to include around 20 species

Two stapelias: <i>Stapelia gigantea</i> and <i>S. schinzii</i> var. <i>angolensis</i>

Two contrasting species of Stapelia are described from the plant family the Apocynaceae. Stapelia gigantea produces some of the largest flowers of any flowering plant, being up to 40 cm in diameter. This species is widely distributed in southern Africa. In contrast Stapelia schinzii var. angolensis has smaller flowers only 7-13 cm in diameter. This variety has a very restricted distribution in southern Angola and northern Namibia

Two choice African <i>Sansevierias: S. hargeisana</i> and <i>S. hallii</i>

Sansevieria hargeisana (from Somalia) and S. hallii (from Zimbabwe and probably elsewhere in SE Africa) are described and compared. Both are relatively slow growing and are therefore choice collectors' items. Both are exceptionally reluctant to flower. Both were described by the Sansevieria expert Juan Chahinian in the Sansevieria Journal (Chahinian 1994, 1996) and neither is especially common in cultivation, with S. hargeisana considered rare both in the wild and in cultivation

CactusTalk: More dragon tree tales

Dragon trees (Dracaena species) are updated since the last synopsis (Walker, 2001) with three new subspecies being newly described. Dracaena draco subsp. caboverdeana is endemic to the Cape Verde Islands, leaving subsp. draco restricted to the Canary Islands and Madeira. Dracaena serrulata subsp. dhofarica is endemic to the Dhofar Province of Oman. Dracaena serrulata subsp. mccoyorum is endemic to Saudi Arabia, where it occurs near the summit of a single mountain and hence is assessed as being on the brink of extinction