CIBIRHIZA SPICULATA

This member of the Asclepiadaceae* family was given this name by Mats Thulin and David Goyder in 2009. It is known only from the area between Kebri Dehar and Shillabo on the horn of Africa in Ethiopia. It is growing in a sandy soil with some water and lots of sun. The caudex can grow to five centimetres in diameter, ten centimetres long, the vines reach 150 centimetres in length. The flowers are dull green on the outside and pale yellow-greenish on the inside.

The genera name from Latin; cibus; 'nourishment' or 'food' and Greek; rhiza; 'root' as the roots can be eaten.

The species name means 'being covered with fine points, for the inner corona lobes that are curved inwards over the gynostegium and end in remarkable spinulose heads. *) Accordantly to the latest taxonomic system; APG IV 2016 is Asclepiadaceae now part of the Apocynaceae.