Ceropegia abyssinica
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| Ceropegia abyssinica | ||||||||||||
| Decne. |
Ceropegia abyssinica is a species of plant from the subfamily of the asclepiadoideae (Asclepiadoideae).
features
Vegetative characteristics
Ceropegia abyssinica is an upright growing perennial plant with a spherical tuber measuring up to 3 cm in diameter . The shoot axes stand upright, the tips of the shoot axes rarely grow in a twisting manner. The light green shoot axes are up to 30 cm high and have a diameter of 2.5 mm; are provided with short, shaggy hair. The leaves are stalked, the petiole 2 to 5 mm long. The slightly hairy leaf blades with occasionally curved edges are usually slightly angled and upright. They are narrow-elliptical in shape, ovate to broadly lanceolate and measure 20 to 50 mm in length and 3 to 20 mm in width.
Inflorescence and flowers
The inflorescence has a very short stalk and has one to five flowers. The flower stalks are 0.5 to 1 cm long. The subliminal sepals measure 6 to 12 mm in length. The five-fold, zygomorphic corolla is hermaphroditic and has a double flower envelope. The five petals are fused to form a predominantly smooth corolla tube on the outside. The bottle-shaped flower is 1.8 to 2.5 cm in total, rarely up to 3 cm high (or long). The corolla tube has an ellipsoid barrel-shaped extension ("corolla tube kettle") at the base. This area is about 5 to 12 mm long and has a thickness of 3 to 5 mm. The diameter decreases continuously towards the upper end to about 3 mm in diameter. The corolla-tube kettle is whitish gray on the outside and turns purple with age, and a gray band develops in the upper part of the kettle. The inside of the kettle is white and purple. The actual corolla tube (above the kettle) is 3 to 5 mm long, at the top it has a diameter of 3 to 5 mm. It is gray on the outside with occasional purple spots. The petal lobes are 5 to 10 mm (rarely up to 15 mm) long. They are linearly shaped and grown together at the tips. The petal lobes form an egg-shaped to ellipsoidal, cage-like structure. The two leaf halves of the petal lobes are bent back along the longitudinal rib or just the edges. Outside they are white and slightly hairy, inside they are velvety black. The purple-colored corolla is sessile and overgrown in a bowl-shaped manner. The interstaminal corolla lobes stand half upright and are approximately rectangular. They end blunt, the edges are notched or cut up to halfway. They are up to 1 mm long and have black hairs. The staminal lobes of the corolla are about 2 mm long, linear-spatulate and upright. Towards the top they slope inwards. Black hairs are often found at the base and top.
Fruits and seeds
The slender, spindle-shaped follicles are 11 cm long and 3 mm in diameter. The seeds are 6 mm and 3 mm wide.
Geographical distribution and ecology
The distribution area of Ceropegia abyssinica extends from Eritrea , Ethiopia and the Central African Republic in the north through Kenya , Tanzania , Zaire to Angola , Zambia and Zimbabwe . In Erithrea and Ethiopia it grows at an altitude of 1300 to 2100 m. In the rest of the distribution area, too, it only occurs at higher altitudes from 800 m, mostly over 1200 m above sea level. In Kenya it was found on Mount Elgon at an altitude of 2280 m.
Systematics and taxonomy
The species was first described in 1844 by Joseph Decaisne in de Candolle's Prodromus systematis naturalis regni vegetabilis, Volume 8, p. 644. The species is accepted as a valid taxon in both the " Ceropegia Checklist" and the "Plant List". Herbert Huber eliminated two varieties in his " Revision of the genus Ceropegia ": Ceropegia abyssinica var. Abyssinica and Ceropegia abyssinica var. Songeensis H. Huber . The latter was called in again by Ulrich Meve . Meve gives a long list of other synonyms :
- Ceropegia hirsuta Hochst. ex Decne. (nom. inval., Art. 34.1c)
- Ceropegia steudneri Vatke (1876)
- Ceropegia leucotaenia K. Schum.
- Ceropegia steudneriana K. Schum.
- Ceropegia gilletii De Wild. & T. Durand
- Ceropegia hispidipes S. Moore
- Ceropegia bequaertii De Wild.
- Ceropegia filicalyx Bull.
- Ceropegia abyssinica var. Songeensis H. Huber
- Ceropegia bonafouxii var. Linearifolia stop
supporting documents
literature
- Ulrich Meve: Ceropegia . In: Focke Albers, Ulrich Meve (Hrsg.): Sukkulentenlexikon. Volume 3: Asclepiadaceae (silk plant family) . Eugen Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-8001-3982-0 , pp. 61-107.
- AA Bullock: Notes on African Asclepiadaceae. I. In: Kew Bulletin. 7 (3) 1952, pp. 405-426 (online at JSTOR)
- Herbert FJ Huber : Revision of the genus Ceropegia. In: Memórias da Sociedade Broteriana. Volume 12, 1957, pp. 1–203, Coimbra (description of C. abyssinica pp. 161–164)
Individual evidence
- ^ WT Thiselton-Dyer (Ed.): Flora of Tropical Africa. 4 (1), L. Reeve & Co., Ashford, Kent 1904. online at biodiversitylibrary.org (description of Ceropegia abyssinica p. 462)
- ^ Joseph Decaisne: De Candolle Prodromus systematis naturalis regni vegetabilis. Vol. 8, Paris 1844 online at botanicus.org (first description of Ceropegia abyssinica on p. 644, no. 28)
- ↑ Ulrich Meve: Ceropegia Checklist. A guide to alternative names used in recent Ceropegia classification. In: Dennis de Kock, Ulrich Meve: A Checklist of Brachystelma, Ceropegia and the genera of the Stapeliads. International Asclepiad Society, 2007, pp. 83-113.
- ^ Rafael Govaerts (ed.): World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (in review): Ceropegia. In: The Plant List. A working list of all plant species. Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Missouri Botanical Garden, accessed March 23, 2013.