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Ceropegia minor

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Photo by Andrew Hankey, Ispotnature.org.


This drawing might be wrong, as the leaves should be "more or less spathulate, oblong-elliptic to suborbicular, up to 20 mm long, sparsely pubescent above, glabrescent below, crisped ciliate on margin; midrib prominent below, purple-tinged; petioles 8-16 mm long, grooved down upper surface".

Author: Peter Vincent Bruyns, 2017
Family:  ASCLEPIADACEAE*
Origin:   Eastern Transvaal; South Africa
Soil:  Mix - Grit
Water:  Medium
Sun:  Medium - Maximum
Thickness:  5 Centimetres
Height:  3-10 Centimetres
Flower:   Greenish Cream / Red - Maroon - Purple
PropagateSeeds
Names:  -
Synonyms:  Brachystelma minus + Brachystelma minor, Eileen Adelaide Bruce, 1951

This member of the Asclepiadaceae* family was given this name by Peter Vincent Bruyns in 2017. It is found in Eastern Transvaal in South Africa, growing in grit or another well drained soil with some water and some to lots of sun. The caudex can grow to five centimetres in diameter, the entire plant from three to ten centimetres in height. The flowers are mainly dark red to maroon.

The genera name is from the Greek word keropegion meaning 'candelabrum', because Linnaeus thought that the flowers looked like candles. The species name after the size of the exposed part of the plant.

*)Accordantly to the latest taxonomic system; APG IV 2016, Asclepiadaceae is now part of the Apocynaceae.


Another plant by M. Lötter, Sanbi.org.