Ceropegia laikipiensis
| Ceropegia laikipiensis | ||||||||||||
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| Ceropegia laikipiensis | ||||||||||||
| Masinde |
Ceropegia laikipiensis is a species of plant from the subfamily of the asclepiadoideae (Asclepiadoideae). It is endemic to Kenya.
features
Vegetative characteristics
Ceropegia laikipiensis is a slightly branched, stem and leaf succulent , but mostly leafless, twisting plant that can grow up to 1 m high. The roots are not known, but presumably spindle-shaped. The milky juice is also unknown. The bare shoots have a diameter of 2.5 mm, are gray-green in color and have very fine longitudinal lines. The very small succulent leaves are sessile, succulent, and deciduous. They are only found at the tip of the shoot. The leaf blades with entire margins, bare on the upper and lower sides, are linear to subulate , 2 mm long and 0.5 to 1 mm wide at the base; the spreading apex is pointed.
Inflorescence and flowers
The sessile to short stalked inflorescence is an umbel-shaped pleiochasium (umbel) with one to three flowers. The flowers develop and open one at a time, so only one flower is open at a time. The bald, persistent inflorescence stem becomes up to 4 mm long with a diameter of 1 mm; it thickens to 1.5 to 2 mm after the fruit set. The bare also support leaves (bracts) are subulate, 1 mm long and measuring mm in width at the base 0.4. The sepals are linear-subphrate, 3 to 4 mm long and 0.5 to 0.7 mm wide at the base. The hermaphrodite, zygomorphic flowers are five-fold with a double flower envelope. The corolla is 28 to 38 mm long. The petals are fused in the lower part to a corolla tube; this takes up about 14 to 22 mm of the total length of the flower. The corolla tube is inflated ovoid in the lower third or quarter ("kettle") (5 to 7 mm high, 4 to 5 mm in diameter). The corolla tube decreases rapidly above the kettle to a diameter of about 2 mm. This upper part of the corolla tube forms a funnel-shaped structure bent at an obtuse angle approximately in the middle, which initially increases to about 5 mm in diameter, and then quickly decreases again to 4 mm in diameter at the base of the corolla lobes. The outside of the corolla tube has a light basic color and can be spotted purple-brown, especially on the corolla-tube kettle and the upper end. The corolla tube kettle also shows a weak longitudinal nerve. The corolla tube as a whole is bare on the outside. Inside, the corolla tube also has a light basic color and is spotted purple-brown. The corolla-tube kettle is bare on the inside, in the area of the narrowing above the kettle a slightly thickened annulus is also formed on the inside. This is densely covered with whitish hair pointing downwards and inwards. The hair continues to the bend of the corolla tube and then disappears. The funnel-shaped opening of the corolla tube has purple spots and is very sparsely hairy. The light-colored petal lobes are initially elongated triangular at the base and then quickly become linear. They are 14 to 17 mm long, about 2 mm wide at the base and about 0.7 mm wide in the further course. The tips are connected to each other and form a rounded, cage-like structure that is about twice or three times the diameter of the corolla tube at its widest point. The bases of the petal lobes are densely covered on the inside with relatively long, 2.5 to 3 mm long and about 0.1 mm thick, inward-pointing, vibrating hairs. Otherwise the petal tips are bare. The yellowish-cream-colored corolla is clearly stalked, the stem is 3.5 mm high and 2.5 mm in diameter. The base is cup-shaped. The interstaminal (or outer) coronet lobes are triangular, deeply incised at the upper end with parallel teeth. The base is bag-shaped, 1 mm deep and 0.7 mm wide. The edges are bald, except on the inside below the bases of the teeth where they have some sparse inward hairs. The cylindrical staminal (or inner) corolla lobes stand upright and lie against the interstaminal corolla lobes, but are not fused with them. They are 2.6 mm long and 0.15 mm in diameter. They are as long as the interstaminal lobes of the corolla or they even protrude slightly. The ends are blunt and very finely papillary. The pollinia are ovate, 380 μm long and 280 μm wide.
Fruits and seeds
One flower usually gives rise to two elongated, spindle-shaped follicles at an acute angle . They are 70 to 100 mm long and reach a thickness of about 4 mm in the middle. The brownish seeds measure 4 × 2 mm and have a 0.5 mm wide, lighter and corky edge ("wings"). The silky white head of hair is approx. 20 mm long.
Similar species
Ceropegia laikipiensis is closely related to Ceropegia arabica H. Huber var. Powysii (DV Field) Meve & Mangelsdorff. The following characteristics in particular are similar: green succulent shoots with very fine longitudinal stripes, sessile or almost sessile linear-awl, scale-like leaves that usually fall off quickly and the mostly sessile or very short-stalked inflorescences. It differs, however, by the linear corolla lobes, which form a round, cage-like structure, and by the abrupt bend roughly in the middle of the corolla tube. This abrupt bend roughly in the middle of the corolla tube resembles Ceropegia botrys K.Schum. Further differences to C. arabica are: the dense ring of strong hair in the opening of the corolla tube and the much deeper cut interstaminal lobes of the corolla, which are also fine ciliate. In contrast, the distribution of the hairs inside the corolla tube resembles the little-known Ceropegia subaphylla K.Schum.
Geographical distribution and ecology
The species has so far only been known from two localities in Kenya , from Longopito (0 ° 42 'N, 37 ° 10' E) from the Laikipia Plateau , Kenya (type locality) and from the Barsalinga Drift on the south bank of the Uaso Nyiro River ( Kenya).
It grows in semi-arid, open forest areas and bushland at an altitude of 1700 m.
Systematics and taxonomy
Ceropegia laikipiensis was first described by Patrick Siro Masinde in 2004. It is very likely that the species had been found 10 years earlier by Philipp Archer, who in 1994 sent a b / w photo to the editor of the magazine Asklepios , who found it on p. 8 in the 62nd volume of this magazine as an unknown Ceropegia species published.
supporting documents
literature
- Patrick Siro Masinde: Two New Ceropegia (Apocynaceae: Asclepiadoideae-Ceropegieae) Species from Kenya. Kew Bulletin, 59 (2): 241-245, 2004 abstract .
Individual evidence
- ^ Asklepios, Journal of the International Asclepiad Society, published in Brighton, England, ISSN 0260-9533