Ceropegia africana

(Ceropegia)

Taxonomy

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Domain: Eukaryota Whittaker & Margulis,1978 - eukaryotes
- Kingdom: Plantae Haeckel, 1866
  - Subkingdom: Viridaeplantae Cavalier-Smith, 1981 - Green Plants
    - Phylum: Magnoliophyta Cronquist, Takhtajan & W. Zimmermann, 1966 - Flowering Plants
      - Subphylum: Spermatophytina (auct.) Cavalier-Smith, 1998 - Seed Plants
        Infraphylum: Angiospermae auct.
        Class: Magnoliopsida Brongniart, 1843 - Dicotyledons
        Subclass: Lamiidae Takhtajan ex Reveal, 1992
        Superorder: Gentiananae Thorne ex Reveal, 1992
        Order: Gentianales
        Family: Asclepiadaceae (ass-kle-pee-ad-AY-see-ay)
        Subfamily: Plumerioideae
        Tribe: Allamandeae
        Genus: Ceropegia (seer-oh-PEEJ-ee-uh) Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 211. 1753. - Ceropegia
        Specific epithet: africana R.Br.
        Botanical name: Ceropegia africana R.Br.

Notes:

An accepted name in the RHS Horticultural Database.

Physical Description

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Family Asclepiadaceae:

Herbs, shrubs, or rarely treelike, with milky or, less often, clear latex. Leaves simple, opposite or occasionally whorled, very rarely alternate, usually without obvious stipules, margin nearly always entire. Inflorescences terminal, axillary, or extra-axillary, cymose, often condensed and umbel-like, occasionally a racemelike bostrychium. Flowers bisexual, 5-merous, actinomorphic. Sepals joined at base only, often with 5 or more basal glands in the sinuses. Corolla sympetalous, reflexed to urceolate or salverform; lobes valvate or overlapping in bud to right or left. Corona usually present, inserted on corolla, stamens, or both. Stamens 5, usually inserted at base of corolla tube and adhering to stigma head to form gynostegium; filaments usually connate to form a tube enclosing ovaries; anthers 4-celled (Periplocoideae and Secamonoideae) or 2-celled (Asclepiadoideae), often with a membranous apical appendage; pollen tetrads contained loosely on a spatulate translator with a basal corpusculum (Periplocoideae), or pollen united into waxy pollinia, each attached through a caudicle (stalk) to the retinaculum (gland) between adjacent anthers to form a pollinarium, pollinia 2 (Asclepiadoideae) or 4 (Secamonoideae) per pollinarium. Ovaries 2, free, superior; ovules numerous. Styles connate; stigma head fleshy. Fruit of 1 or 2 follicles. Seeds numerous, strongly compressed, with a coma (a prominent basal tuft of silky hairs) . Chromosome number x = (8-) 11 (or 12) .

Some 250 genera and over 2000 species: widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, especially in Africa and southern South America, with a moderate representation in northern and southeastern Asia; 44 genera (four endemic) and 270 species (153 endemic) in China.

Some authorities include this family in the Apocynaceae. Genera 1-6 are sometimes placed in a separate family, the Periplocaceae, here regarded as a subfamily, Periplocoideae. Genera 7-10 belong to the Secamonoideae and the remaining genera to the Asclepiadoideae. Many Chinese taxa are known only from dried material, sometimes not well preserved, and it is likely that the study of living or spirit-preserved material could lead to a reassessment of the taxonomy of some of these endemic taxa.

All plant parts, especially the seeds and latex, are often poisonous. They contain various alkaloids and glycosides, many of which are used in medicine and as insecticides. A few succulent species (e.g., Stapelia gigantia N. E. Brown, Orbea pulchella (Masson) L. C. Leach, and O. variegata (Linnaeus) Haworth are grown by specialist collectors in China.^[1]

Genus Ceropegia:

Herbs perennial, erect or twining, sap clear or cloudy, rarely milky. Rootstock often a cluster of fusiform roots or a subglobose tuber, sometimes a rhizome [or with fibrous roots only]. Stems herbaceous [to very succulent]. Inflorescences extra-axillary [rarely terminal], mostly umbel-like, less often racemelike and sometimes branched. Flowers usually large. Calyx deeply 5-parted; basal glands many, small. Corolla tubular, base swollen, often asymmetrically, upper part often funnelform; lobes usually slender and coherent at apex. Corona double, outer lobes 5, joined to form a cup, entire to deeply 2-lobed so that outer corona is 10-toothed; inner lobes 5, subulate to narrowly spatulate, basally incumbent on anthers, apical part usually long, erect. Filaments connate into a very short tube; anthers without apical appendages; pollinia 2 per pollinarium, erect, inner angle with a prominent translucent margin. Stigma head convex or impressed. Follicles linear, fusiform, or cylindric.

About 170 species: mostly Africa, extending through tropical Asia and Oceania; 17 species in China.

The elaborate flowers of species of Ceropegia are particularly difficult to study from dried material, and this account must be regarded as provisional.^[2]

Flowers: Flower Color: black, dark purple, green, maroon, near white, white

Distribution

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Growth

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Soil: Minimum pH: 6.1 • Maximum pH: 6.5

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun.

Moisture: Drought Tolerance: High

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 11. (map)

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Ceropegia:

Members of the genus Ceratostema:

There are approximately 92 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus: C. alatum · C. alberti-smithii · C. amplexicaule · C. andreana · C. andreanum · C. angulatum · C. auriculatum · C. biflorum · C. bracteolatum · C. buxifolium · C. callistum · C. calycinum · C. campii · C. charianthum (Ceratostema) · C. chillacochense · C. coccineum · C. colombianum · C. cordifolium · C. coronarium · C. coronianum · C. cutucuÃ«nse · C. cutucuÃ«nsis · C. cutucuense · C. emarginatum · C. fabulosum · C. fasciculatum · C. ferreyrae · C. flexuosum · C. glandulifera · C. glans · C. graebnerianum · C. grandiflora · C. grandiflorum · C. harmsianum · C. hirsutum · C. hookeri · C. inflata · C. karstenianum · C. lanceolatum · C. lanigera · C. lanigerum · C. lobbii · C. longiflorum · C. loranthiflorum · C. macbrydiorum · C. macranthum · C. madisonii · C. mandoni · C. megabracteatum · C. megalobum · C. microphyllum · C. miniatum · C. mutans · C. myrtifolium · C. nanum · C. nodosum · C. nubigena · C. nubigenum · C. nutans · C. oblongifolium · C. odoratissimum · C. oellgaardii · C. oyachiensis · C. parvifolium · C. pearcei · C. pedunculatum · C. pendens · C. pensile · C. peruvianum · C. pilgerianum · C. pilosum · C. prietoi · C. pubescens · C. pubistorum · C. rauhii · C. reginaldii · C. rigidum · C. rimbachii · C. salapa · C. sanguineum · C. serratum · C. silvicola · C. smilacifolium · C. speciosum · C. spectabile · C. ulei · C. urbanianum · C. vaccinaceum · C. variegatum · C. ventricosum · C. weberbaueri · C. wightianum

Bibliography

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Tsiang Ying & Li Ping-tao. 1977. Asclepiadaceae. Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 63: 249-575.

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Notes

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Identifiers:

Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 15063496
Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:95434-1
Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 725963

Footnotes:

Bingtao Li, Michael G. Gilbert & W. Douglas Stevens "Asclepiadaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 16 Page 189. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org.
"Ceropegia". in Flora of China Vol. 16 Page 266. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org.

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Last Revised: June 11, 2008