Forked candlestick flower
| Forked candlestick flower | ||||||||||||
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Forked candlestick flower ( Ceropegia dichotoma ), Tenerife |
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| Ceropegia dichotoma | ||||||||||||
| Haw. |
The forked candlestick flower ( Ceropegia dichotoma ) (Span. Cardoncillo ) is a species of the genus candlestick flowers ( Ceropegia ) from the subfamily of the silk plants (Asclepiadoideae), which is assigned to the family dog poison plants (Apocynaceae). This species is endemic to the Canaries .
features
The forked candlestick flower is a shrub-like, perennial succulent plant that reaches heights of up to 1 meter; the subspecies Ceropegia dichotoma subsp. krainzii on Gomera and Tenerife is up to 1.5 m high. This kind has a mostly upright, z. Sometimes also lying, ascending habit with regular, basal branches. It is characterized by a shoot and leaf succulence . The stems measure 5 to about 20 mm in diameter and are initially greenish when fresh; they later become greenish to light gray due to wax deposits. The 2 to 12 cm long, up to 8 mm wide linear-elliptical leaflets are opposite. The nerves are a little lighter, the edges bent. They only develop on the fresh stems and later fall off.
In the upper area of the plants, sessile, shingled inflorescences with groups of two to ten flowers develop . The blossoms of the nominate subspecies are typical window blossoms. The yellowish flowers are 3 to 4 cm long. The corolla tube accounts for 10 to 16 mm of this. The crown cup measures 4 to 5 mm in diameter and is only slightly wider than the crown tube. The secondary or inner crown is enclosed in the bulbous part of the corolla tube. The five corolla lobes are 8 to 12 mm long and 1 to 3 mm wide. They are usually more intensely colored than the corolla tube. In the nominate subspecies they are fused apically, the edges are curved outwards. The subspecies Ceropegia dichotoma subsp. krainzii , the crown lobes spread slightly. The flowers are arranged in larger groups (10 to 70). The flowers are also somewhat slimmer than those of the nominate subspecies. The five stamens are fused to the short stamens to form a tube.
The paired, spindle-shaped follicles have a diameter of up to 4 mm, are up to 11 cm long and contain up to 20 seeds.
Occurrence
Ceropegia dichotoma subsp. dichotoma is restricted to the Canary Islands La Palma , Hierro and Tenerife . The subspecies Ceropegia dichotoma subsp. krainzii occurs only on Gomera and Tenerife. It occurs here on the slightly more humid north sides of the islands. In contrast, the second Canarian Ceriopegia species, the red-brown candlestick flower ( Ceropegia fusca ) is restricted to the drier locations on the south side of these islands.
Systematics
A whole series of varieties and species of the genus Ceropegia have been described from the Canary Islands , which are mostly considered synonyms today. Only Ceropegia dichotoma subsp. krainzii (Svent.) Bruyns (Syn .: Ceropegia krainzii Sventenius ) is now accepted as a subspecies. Ceropegia hians Sventenius and ceropegia hians var. Striata Sventenius are synonyms of Ceropegia dichotoma subsp. dichotoma . Ceropegia chrysantha Svent. and Ceropegia ceratophora Svent. are synonyms of the subspecies Ceropegia dichotoma subsp. krainzii .
literature
- Focke Albers, Ulli Meve (Hrsg.): Succulent lexicon Volume 3 Asclepiadaceae (silk plants). 322 S., Ulmer, Stuttgart 2002 ISBN 978-3-800-13982-8 .
- Peter Schönfelder , Ingrid Schönfelder: The cosmos of the Canary Islands. 2nd edition, 319 pages, Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co KG Stuttgart ISBN 978-3-440-10750-8
