Ceropegia andamanica
| Ceropegia andamanica | ||||||||||||
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| Ceropegia andamanica | ||||||||||||
| Sreek. , Veenak. & Prashanth |
Ceropegia andamanica is a species of the subfamily of the silk plant family (Asclepiadoideae). It occurs on the Andaman Island South Andaman Island .
features
Vegetative characteristics
Ceropegia andamanica is a perennial , herbaceous plant with twining stems and fleshy roots. The milky juice is watery. The leaves are stalked, the stems are slender and 0.2 to 2 cm long. The leaf blades are lanceolate to elliptical-lanceolate; they measure 5 to 15 cm in length and 1 to 5 cm in width. The consistency of the leaves is paper-like. The base of the leaf blade is rounded to flat heart-shaped, the outer end pointed. The underside is green and bare.
Inflorescence and flowers
The 3 to 8 flowered inflorescence arises from the leaf axils and is stalked. The bald inflorescence stalk measures 1.5 to 2.5 cm. The five-fold, zygomorphic flowers are hermaphroditic and have a double flower envelope. The corolla is 5 to 12 cm long (high), the bare flower stalks measure 0.5 to 2 cm. The bald sepals are needle-shaped and 0.5 to 1 cm long. The five petals are fused in the lower part to form an externally smooth corolla tube ( sympetalie ). The corolla tube is swollen in the lower third, narrowed in the middle of the corolla tube, and expanded again like a funnel towards the opening of the flower. The linear petal tips are close together and twisted. This part of the corolla is elongated like a whip, with an elongated, egg-shaped head at the end. The tips of the outer, interstaminal secondary crown are egg-shaped and incised in the middle at the outer end, the two-pointed tips at the outer end are covered with cilia . The lobes of the inner, staminal secondary crown are erect-spatulate, and 2 mm long and 1 mm wide.
Fruits and seeds
No information is available on the appearance of fruits and seeds.
Similar species
Ceropegia andamanica is related to Ceropegia metziana . It differs from this species by the bare leaves and stems, the longer flowers, the shape of the petal tips and the spatulate inner, staminal tips of the corolla.
Geographical distribution and ecology
The species has so far only been found in Mount Harriet National Park on South Andaman Island ( Andamans ). The species grows there in smaller areas of a primary, evergreen, tropical rainforest at 350 m above sea level. There it is associated with Mallotus resinosus (Blanco) Merr. ( Euphorbiaceae ) and Phaulopsis imbricata (Forssk.) Sweet ( Acanthaceae ). It blooms in the natural habitat in November and December.
The leaves of the plant are the food of the caterpillars of the butterfly species (or subspecies) Parantica aglea ssp. melanoleuca (moors).
Systematics and taxonomy
The species is accepted as a valid taxon by both the Plant List and the Ceropegia Checklist.
literature
- Puthenpurayil Viswanathan Sreekumar; Kamalanathan Veenakumari; Mohanraj Prashanth: Ceropegia andamanica (Asclepiadaceae) a new 'fly trap flower' from the Andaman Islands, India. In: Blumea , Vol. 43, No. 1, 1998, pp. 215-217
Individual evidence
- ^ Rafael Govaerts (ed.): World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (in review): Ceropegia. Published in: The Plant List. A working list of all plant species. Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Missouri Botanical Garden, accessed December 2, 2011.
- ↑ 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.