XVI International Botanical Congess
The stapeliads are a group of highly succulent, practically leafless plants with a very diverse floral morphology which are found in dry parts of the Old World from southern Africa eastwards to Burma. It is shown that this group is monophyletic and that it is nested within a larger group among the tribe Stapelieae. The evolution of certain characters is considered. The biogeography and some aspects of the ecology of the stapeliads is also discussed.