DORSTENIA ELLENBECKIANA

This member of the Moraceae family was described by Heinrich Gustav Adolf Engler in 1902. It is found in Somali, Kenya and Ethiopia, growing in well-drained soil or just grit. Not so much water, but lots of sun. The caudex will grow to six centimetres in diameter, the leaves only reaches for five centimetres. It's flowers are reddish-brown, and seeds are the only way of reproducing. The genera is named after Theodor Dorsten, 16th century German botanist and medical professor at Marburg. The species name honours D. H. Ellenbeck, a German physician who collected plants during the Baron von Erlanger's expedition to East Africa in 1900-01. Seen on IPNI as a Urticaceae! Photo by Theo Heijnsdijk, Appeltern, The Netherlands.