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| syn. Ceropegia blatteri (Santapau) |
| distribution:
India: Gujarat; Nandurbar District, Salsette Island / Maharashtra; Rajasthan (ex ?) |
| About fortyfive
species of the genus Ceropegia can be found in India, twentyeight of them
are endemic. Ceropegia odorata is, like most indian Ceropegia species, critically endangered, it can only be found on four places, Pavagadh in Gujarat; Tarubanda in the Melghat Tiger Reserve and on Salsette Island, both in Maharashtra as well as at Mount Abu in Rajasthan, where it may now be extinct. It can only be found in areas which are almost or completely inaccessible for humans, there it climbs through the surrounding vegetation. The flowers of this species show a light colour in the lower part, sometimes a bit beige or pinkish 'breathed on', the united petals are yellow as corn. As far as known, Ceropegia odorata is the only species in the genus, whose flowers exhale an intensive fragrance, this is where the name is derived from. The flowers bloom only for some days and exhale a very strong jasmine scent. In Gujarat this species is called Jeemikanda. The Pawara- resp. Pawra tribe, which lives in the Nandurbar District, calles the species by the name Sulatya Kand (Pawari or Pawri) and knows many possible uses for the several parts of this plant. The leaves are chewed to cure stomach pains, the juice from the tubers is used as eye medicine. Furthermore the tubers are eaten as vegetable. |
 left:Ceropegia odorata Photo: by courtesy of Jean-Noel Labat http://www.mnhn.fr |
| References: - S. Jagtap; S. Deokule; A. Watve: Occurence of threatened fragrant Ceropegia in Toranmal forests, Maharashtra. Current Science, Vol. 87, No. 5, 10 September 2004 - Shweta Swarnkar; S. S. Katewa: Ethnobotanical Observation on Tuberous Plants from Tribal Area of Rajasthan (India). Ethnobotanical Leaflets 12: 647-66. 2008 - S. D. Jagtap; S. S. Deokule; S. V. Bhosle: Ethnobotanical uses of endemic and RET plants by Pawra tribe of Nandurbar district, Maharashtra. Indian Journal of Traditional Knowlegde Vol. 7 (2), April 2008, pp. 311-315 |