Echidnopsis is a genus of succulent, cactus-like plants in the family Apocynaceae, first described as a genus in 1871.Hooker, Joseph Dalton. 1871. Botanical Magazine v 97, plate 5930. includes color illustration of E. cereiformis They are native to eastern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.Asclepiad Exhibition, Echidnopsis Fockea
Accepted speciesThe Plant List, genus Echidnopsis
Species formerly included Echidnopsis quadrangula now Caralluma quadrangula
Taxonomy Phylogenetic studies have shown the genus to be monophyletic, and most closely related to the genus Rhytidocaulon. Marginally more distantly related is a sister branch comprising the genus Pseudolithos and the widespread Caralluma stapeliads of North Africa.P. Bruyns, C. Klak, P. Hanacek: Evolution of the stapeliads (Apocynaceae-Asclepiadoideae) - repeated major radiation across Africa in an Old World group. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 2014. v. 77, no. 1, p. 251--263. ISSN 1055-7903.
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