Ceropegia fusca

Red-brown Ceropegia ( Ceropegia fusca ), inflorescence with flowers.

The Red-brown Ceropegia ( Ceropegia fusca ) is a plant of the genus Chandelier Flowers ( 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 Red-brown candlestick flower is a shrubby growing, perennial succulent plant, which reaches stature heights of up to 1 meter. 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 8 to about 15 mm in diameter and are in the fresh state first rotbraungrünlich; they are whitish later by wax deposits. The 25 to 50 mm long, 2-4 mm wide, linear - elliptic leaves are opposite and have a reddish-brown hue. The nerves are a little lighter, bent over the edges. They develop in the fresh stalks and fall off later.

In the upper part of the plant is sitting scheindoldige inflorescences with groups of two to eight flowers develop. On Gran Canaria local forms occur, have the appearance umbels up to 20 flowers. The hermaphrodite, red-brown flowers are typical window flowers that are 2 to 3 cm long. The corolla tube is 10 to 16 mm long. The Kronkessel measures 4-6 mm in diameter and is only slightly wider than the corolla. The five corolla lobes are 6-11 mm long and 1-3 mm wide. The edges are slightly curved outwards.

There are formed pairs arranged fusiform follicles that are up to 10 cm long.

Occurrence

The Red-brown candlestick flower is limited to the Canary Islands La Palma, Gran Canaria and Tenerife. She prefers the drier sites of the south sides of these islands. They bloom there from about November well into the spring.

System

The Red-brown candlestick flower is most closely related to the other Canary Ceropegia species, Ceropegia dichotoma. However, this has yellowish flowers and is limited to the somewhat humid habitats of the northern side of the islands.