Ceropegia dichotoma

Gift Lige Ceropegia ( Ceropegia dichotoma), Tenerife

The gift Lige Ceropegia ( Ceropegia dichotoma) (Spanish Cardoncillo ) is a plant of the genus Chandelier Flower ( Ceropegia ) from the subfamily of milkweed plants ( Asclepiadoideae ) that the Hundsgiftgewächse family ( Apocynaceae ) has been allocated. This species is endemic to the Canary Islands.

Features

The gift Lige Ceropegia is a shrubby growing, perennial succulent plant that reaches the stature heights of up to 1 meter; the subspecies Ceropegia dichotoma subsp. krainzii on Gomera and Tenerife is up to 1.5 m high. This type has a mostly upright, sometimes even lying - ascending growth habit with regular, basal branching. It is characterized by a shoot and Blattsukkulenz. The stems measure 5 to about 20 mm in diameter and are in the fresh state initially greenish; they are later by wax deposits greenish to light gray. The 2-12 cm long, 8 mm wide linear - elliptic leaves are opposite. The nerves are a little lighter, bent over the edges. They develop only at the fresh stalks and fall off later.

In the upper part of the plant is sitting scheindoldige inflorescences with groups of two to ten flowers develop. The flowers are typical of Nominatunterart window flowers. The yellowish flowers are 3-4 cm long. Attributable to the corolla tube 10-16 mm. Kronkessel the measures 4 to 5 mm in diameter and is only slightly wider than the corolla. The side or inner crown is included in the bulbous part of the corolla tube. The five corolla lobes are 8-12 mm long and 1-3 mm wide. They are usually more intense yellow color than the corolla tube. They are grown in the apical Nominatunterart, the edges are bent outward. When Ceropegia dichotoma subsp subspecies. krainzii the crown tip spread slightly. The flowers are arranged in large groups (10 to 70). The flowers are also slightly slimmer than the Nominatunterart. The five stamens are fused to the short stamens to a tube.

Which are arranged in pairs, fusiform follicles have a diameter of up to 4 mm, are to 11 cm in length and containing up to 20 seeds.

Occurrence

Ceropegia dichotoma subsp. dichotoma is limited to the Canary Islands La Palma, Hierro and Tenerife. The subspecies Ceropegia dichotoma subsp. krainzii occurs only on Gomera and Tenerife. She comes here in each case before the somewhat wetter north side of the islands. In contrast, the second canary Ceriopegia - type, red-brown Ceropegia ( Ceropegia fusca ) is restricted to the drier sites of the south sides of these islands.

System

Of the Canaries a whole lot of varieties and species of the genus Ceropegia have been described, which are generally viewed as synonyms. Only Ceropegia dichotoma subsp. krainzii ( Svent. ) Bruyns ( syn. Ceropegia krainzii Sventenius ) is now accepted as a subspecies. C. hians Sventenius and C. striata var hians Sventenius are synonyms of Ceropegia dichotoma subsp. dichotoma. C. chrysantha and C. ceratophora are synonyms of the subspecies Ceropegia dichotoma subsp. krainzii.