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Ceropegia meyeri-johannis

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Some leaves from
The East African Herbarium, Twitter.com.


The flower by U Meve, Westafricanplants.senckenberg.de.

Author: Heinrich Gustav Adolf Engler, 1891
Family:  ASCLEPIADACEAE*
Origin:  Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zaire, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, South Africa
Soil:  Mix
Water:  Medium
Sun:  Medium
Thickness:  2-3 Centimetres
Height:  4 Metres
Flower:  Greenish-Yellow / Maroon
Propagate:  Seeds/Cuttings
Names:  -
Synonyms:  Ceropegia calcarata, N. E. Brown, 1903.
Ceropegia verdicikii
, De Wildeman 1903.
Ceropegia angensis
, De Wildeman, 1928.
Ceropegia criniticaulis
, Werdermann, 1938.
Ceropegia dubia
, R. A. Dyer, 1980.

This member of the Asclepiadaceae* family was described by Heinrich Gustav Adolf Engler in 1891. It is found in the tropical Africa, growing in a well drained soil with some water and some sun in the edge of forests. The fleshy roots can grow to two or even three centimetres in diameter, 15-30 centimetres long and the vines from two to four metres. The flowers are greenish-yellow and can have a maroon base. 

The genera name is from the Greek word keropegion meaning 'candelabrum', because Linnaeus thought that the flowers looked like candles. The species name after Dr. Johannes Meyer, 1858-1929, a German geographer.

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