The name, derived from the Greek analMmpto «let me return» and éros «love», was attributed to this genus by Linnaeus (it existed since the time of Plutarch, who used it in the sense of plant used as a filter to reawaken love, for how much doubt it is that it was the same plant). They are small succulent South-African, with a diffused bearing, some with short, erect stems, other creeping ones; the flowers are proportionally large compared to the plant, some open only for a few hours in the afternoon, others do not open at all but produce seeds; many species have tuberous roots and some bulb-tubers.
Anacampseros (Portulacaceae)
Cultivated species of Anacampseros:
A. alstonii, with short flowers covered by small scaly leaves and thickly embryonic, very numerous, each of them carrying a white flower with a diameter of more than 1 cm; A. arachnoides, with small fleshy leaves, axillary hair and pink-violet flowers; Anacampseros baeseckii (about 5 cm), ramifying, with small fleshy leaves completely covered by dense white fur, red flowers margined in white; various types are known, some of them with more sparse and silky filaments; Anacampseros papyracea, with fudges covered with very small white leaves with flaky appearance, often prostrate and twisted; of slow growth, the flowers are very small and bear very few seeds. It requires less water than other species and is practically a rarity; A. rufescens, similar to Anacampseros arachnoides, so much so that Anacampseros arachnoides grandiflora is the horticultural term usually used as a synonym. The small fleshy leaves grow in spiral with axillary filaments, are green on the upper page and brownish-violet on the lower one, but in the sun the colors intensify and even the green becomes bronzed. Violet flowers open only in full sun, but the seeds are formed even if the flowers have not hatched due to lack of sunshine.
Cultivation:
require very porous soil with sand, fragments of coal and crushed stone, full sun, moderate watering and almost suspended in winter, minimum winter temperature about 5 ° C. They reproduce easily from seed, which being minute must not be buried, and multiply for summer cuttings.
Read also: Ampelopsis (Vitaceae)
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