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Ceropegia (From keros wax and pege)

(from keros, wax, and pege, a fountain; referring to the form and waxy appearance of the flowers). ORD. Asclepiadaeoe. Usually twining, sometimes erect, herbs, often with tuberous roots. Corolla funnel-shaped, more or less ventricose from the base; segments of the limb narrow, sometimes cohering at the apex. Leaves opposite. The corona consists of a single whorl of five to ten leaves, opposite the stamens, and alternating with the segments of the corolla. Ceropegias are very curious and pretty stove or greenhouse plants, thriving in a mixture of peat, sand, and vegetable mould. Cuttings of small side shoots, made in April, will root in sand, in heat, with or without a glass covering. They should have little or no water, when in a dormant state, particularly the bulbous-rooted kinds.

C. acuminata (taper-pointed). fl. large, erect, with a greenish tube, and a purple limb; segments united at apex; corolla ventricose at base; tube sub-clavate; peduncles many-flowered. June. l. linear-lanceolate, 2in. to 4in. long, hardly 1/2in. broad, attenuated at apex. Root tuberous. Coromandel, 1820. Stove.

C. Barklyi (Barkly's).* fl. scarcely 2in. long, with a narrow, curved, pinkish tube, dilated into a globose base, and expanded above into a funnel-shaped limb, divided into five long filiform segments, coherent at the incurved tips. May. l. opposite, lanceolate, white-veined. Root tuberous. South Africa, 1877. Greenhouse. (B. M. 6315.) C. Bowkeri (Bowker's). fl. solitary, shortly-stalked; sepals pale green, spotted with brown; corolla pale yellowish-green, 1 1/2in. long (including the reflexed limb). l. linear, sub-acute, sessile. Root a tuber. h. 1ft. Caffraria, 1862. Greenhouse. (B. M. 5407.) C. bulbosa (bulbous). fl. large, erect, with a greenish tube and a purple limb, having the segments united at the apex; tube of corolla sub-clavate; peduncles many-flowered, shorter than the leaves. April. l. from almost orbicular to lanceolate, acuminated. Root tuberous. Coromandel, 1821. Stove. C. elegans (elegant).* fl. purple; corolla with a clavate tube, a hemispherical limb, and broad ligulate segments, which are shorter than the tube, and ciliated with long hairs; peduncles one to six-flowered, shorter than the leaves. l. oblong, or oblong-lanceolate, acuminated. Root fibrous. India, 1828. Stove. (B. M. 3015.) C. Gardnerii (Gardner's).* fl. creamy-white, purple-blotched. l. lanceolate, acuminate, glabrous. Ceylon, 1860. An elegant greenhouse twiner. (B. M. 5306.) C. juncea (Rush-like). fl. greenish yellow, and elegantly variegated with purple, large; corolla clavate, curved, ventricose at the base; peduncles few-flowered. l. small, sessile, lanceolate, acute. India, 1822. Stove. C. Sandersoni (Sanderson's).* fl. pale green, mottled and veined with darker green, with a peculiar, translucid appearance, beautiful, large; the five petals uniting to form an umbrella-like cap, which is ciliated along the margin, with flat white, capillary processes; peduncles axillary, three to four-flowered. Summer. l. ovate-cordate, thick, fleshy, shortly petiolate. Natal, 1868. Greenhouse. (G. C. 1870, 173.) C. stapeliaeformis (Stapelia - like). fl. purple, sessile, rising from the axils of the leaves. July. l. very minute, ternate, almost invisible, cordate, cuspidate. Plant procumbent. Cape of Good Hope, 1824. Greenhouse. C. Thwaitesii (Thwaites').* fl. with a narrow funnel-shaped tube, 1 1/2in. long, very narrow below, but much widened above, and almost globose towards the top; tube yellow; the upper part of the corolla beautifully sprinkled with dark blood-red spots; produced in axillary, three to five-flowered, umbellate racemes. Ceylon, 1851. Stove. (B. M. 4758.) C. Wightii (Wight's). fl. green, purple; corolla spherically ventricose at the base; tube slender; segments of the limb downy. August. l. ovate, acute, fleshy. Plant twining. h. 5ft. India, 1832. Stove.