Ceropegia

syn. -

distribution:

Ethiopia: Kebri Dehar District / Somali National Regional State

This species was just described in the year 2009. It shows a striking resemblance to the South African Ceropegia sandersonii, without beeing closely related to that species.

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This species has fleshy roots.

The twining succulent stems are about 0,5 cm in diameter and reach legths of about 2 m. They are glabrous and greyish green in colour as well as somewhat glaucous.

The leaves bear an about 1 cm long petiole, they are more or less narrowly heart-shaped, 1,5 to 4 cm long and 0,5 to 1,5 cm wide. The midrip on the underside of the leaf has often some hairs.

The flowers in total are 4 to 5 cm long and resemble the flowers of Ceropegia sandersonii at first glance. The light green coloured flower base is only slightly swollen, the corolla tube is greenish white in colour, mottled with lime green, strongly curved near the base and widened at the upper part. The petals are also greenish white in colour as well as mottled with lime green and build a kind of baldachin, on top of which again often a small club-shaped structure appears.

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Ceropegia gypsophila grows only in a very small area on a so called gypsum outcrop, this means a gypsum-containing soil.

Because of the high grazing pressure in the anyhow tiny range of distribution of the new species, it unfortunately must be regarded as critically endangered too.

References:

- Mats Thulin: New species of Caralluma and Ceropegia (Apocynaceae: Asclepiadoideae-Ceropegieae) from eastern Ethiopia. Kew Bulletin. 64(3): 477-483. 2009