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Adenium obesum

Desert Rose

Multimedia & Additional Resources

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Image:	Flowers and leaves	44KB
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General Information

COMMON NAMES: Desert Rose, Impala Lily, Sabi-star; German Adenium, Wüstenrose; French Asalée

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE e.Africa - s.Arabia

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Introduced - Recent, Not naturalised; Land, lowlands

SIGNIFICANCE LIST: Ornamental flowers

KEY FEATURES: Shrub to 2m with thick fleshy stems. LEAVES terminal clusters, alternate, fleshy, oval to 12cm. FLOWERS terminal, funnel-like with rounded petals, deep pin, to 5cmØ. FRUIT spreading pair, long-oval tapering to sharp tip; dries brown and splits. SEEDS, many, brown cyclinders 10x2mm; both ends with a pale-brown tassel of long silken-hairs to 50mm.

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present Makatea:
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
	+	-						-

Northern Group:
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
-			-

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Adenium obesum (Forssk.)
SYNONYMS: Adenium arabicum; Adenium coetaneum [monotypic genus]

TAXONOMY: PLANTAE; ANTHOPHYTA (=Angiospermae); MAGNOLIOPSIDA (=Dicotyledones); ASTERIDAE; Gentianales; APOCYNACEAE

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
None Recorded.

References:
p.694 Neal - In Gardens of Hawaii
p.25 Hortus 3rd
p.23 Royal Hort. Soc. Index of Garden Plants
p.75 Tropica

Data Update History (information):
zTXmx, zB02, zM04b, zD02

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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