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| syn. Ceropegia boussingaultifolia (Dinter), Ceropegia constricta (N. E. Br.), Ceropegia decumbens (P. R. O. Bally), Ceropegia gemmifera (K. Schum.), Ceropegia gossweileri (S. Moore), Ceropegia grandis (E. A. Bruce), Ceropegia mozambicensis (Schltr.), Ceropegia mozambicensis var. ulugurensis (Werderm.), Ceropegia nilotica var. plicata ((E. A. Bruce) H. Huber), Ceropegia plicata (E. A. Bruce) |
| distribution: Botswana: Okavango Delta / Ngamiland District Congo: Kewala Island / Lake Tanganjika Ethiopia Ghana Guinea Kenya: Arabuko-Sokoke Forest / Kilifi District; Kwale District; Taita Hills / Taita-Taveta District / Coast Province; Samburu District / Rift Valley Province Namibia: Caprivi Region, Otjozondjupa Region Rwanda Senegal South Africa: KwaZulu-Natal Sudan Swaziland Togo |
| This twining species has a
very wide distribution within Africa and is therefore very variable. Not
only the flowers vary heavily in their appearance, also the vegetative
parts of plants from differend origins can exceedingly differ from each
other. Ceropegia nilotica has fleshy, fusiform roots and gives birth to annual stems, that means stems that die back once a year during the dry season. In doing so the stems of the species reach 2 to up to 3 m in length, the stems are sometimes more, somtimes less constricted at the internodes. Some plants, which were formerly described under the name Ceropegia mozambicensis, have noticeable square stems. Plants from more arid regions often bear small, more or less scale like leaves, commonly these do also not stay on the plant for very long. In plants from dampier regions the leaves may have lengthes of 1,7 to 8,5 cm by a wide of 0,7 to 3 cm, sometimes maybe even more. The degree of succulence also varies depending on the origin of the plant from succulent to non-succulent, whereby the forms with the most succulent leaves also possess the smallest leaves. Furthermore the leaf edge is in some plants very slightly dentate, in others it is completely smooth. The several forms, formerly regarded as a distinct species, Ceropegia mozambicensis, mostly possess very small leaflets. The flowers vary considerably in the size as well as in the colouration, all share as one commonality the flower tube with two constrictions at its lower part. There are plants, whose flowers do not have the normally common elongated corolla lobes, and which therefore resemble somehow the flowers of species like Ceropegia cimiciodora (see hereto Ceropegia nilotica 'Moribane Forest'). Another form, seemingly very common in Namibia, has flowers, whose corolla lobes are elongated in such an extent, that they have a strinking similarity to the flowers of Ceropegia ballyana. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ceropegia denticulata and Ceropegia nilotica together form a so called super species, indeed there are something like transitional forms between these two species. Furthermore both are closely related to Ceropegia arenaia and Ceropegia radicans. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In cultivation this species requires no special demands. However one should respect that most clones drop all of their overground parts once a year, namely at the end of the year. But before that the plants produces special shoots which then soon are drop from the plant. In the wild these stem parts are necessary for the vegetative reproduction of the plant and can be used very easily for that purpose in cultivation too. In the 'Monatsschrift für Kakteenkunde' from the year 1903 hereto the following can be read: An intersting new Ceropegia represented the last show piece from the Roy. Botanical Garden. In a certain state this plant generates from the axes of its leaves 4 cm long, bare stem pieces, with only a pair of leaflets at their terminal end, these are very remarkable because of their larger size already when still attached to the mother plant and are soon dropped. On the soil the stem piece soon grows roots and from its upper part a shoot is born. Because of this regeneration by brood bulbils the chairman has enclosed the plant with the name of Ceropegia gemmifera K. Sch. = bud-bearing C.. (source: Monatsschrift für Kakteenkunde, Zeitschrift der Liebhaber von Kakteen und anderen Fettpflanzen. Organ der Deutschen Kakteen-Gesellschaft herausgegeben von Professor K. Schumann zu Berlin; Verlag von J. Neumann; Vol. 13. 79 (1903)) |
 left:Ceropegia nilotica Photo: by courtesy of Dennis De Kock http://www.stapeliads.info |
| several clones: Ceropegia nilotica 'Bamba' Ceropegia nilotica 'grandis' Ceropegia nilotica 'green flower' Ceropegia nilotica 'Moribane Forest' Ceropegia nilotica 'mozambicensis' Ceropegia nilotica 'plicata' |
| References: - F. Malaisse: Recherches sur les Asclepiadaceae du Shaba (Zaire) 1. Nouvelles observations sur le genre Ceropegia L.. Bull. Jard. Bot. Nat. Belg. / Bull. Nat. Plantentuin Belg. 54 (1/2) 213-234 (1984) - P. G. Archer: Kenya Ceropegia Scrapbook. Notes and records of some Kenya Ceropegia. Hobart (AUS): Artemis Pup. Consultans. 1992 - Feyera Senbeta; Christine Schmitt; Manfred Denich; Sebsebe Demissew; Paul L. G. Vlek; Helmut Preisinger; Tadesse Woldemariam; Demel Teketay: The diversity and distribution of lianas in the Afromontane rain forests of Ethiopia. Diversity and Distributions, (Diversity Distrib.) (2005) 11, 443-452 |