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| syn. - |
| distribution:
India: Nasik District, Kolhapur District, Pune District, Ratnagiri District, Satara District, Sindhudurg District / Maharashtra |
| In the wild
this species can be found in inaccessible steep slopes in 700 to 1000 m
above sea level. This species is an erect growing herb with an subterranean tuber. The tuber bears up to five stems at the same time, theese ware 30 to 100 ch tall and usually unbranched. The leaves are variable in their size and shape, the lower leaves are larger, ovate with an round or cordate base. The upper leaves are ovate lancet-shaped, 4 to 100 cm long as well as 2 to 8 cm wide. The upper surface is pubescent, the underside is glabrous. The flowers stand in few- to many flowered cymes in the upper part of the stems and rech a length of 3,5 to 5,5 cm. The lower part of the flower is only sligthly swollen. The colour is white or light grey on the outside, as well as dark purple on the lower third of the inside. Th united petals are relatively broad, white on the outside and yellowish green coloured on the inside. The flowering time begins in the July and takes place til September, fruits are produced from August to October. Ceropegia sahyadrica si, like almost all indian Ceropegia species, highly endangered, on one side because its tubers are consumed as food, on the other side because the steep slopes, where the plants grow, are often destroyed by landslides. This species, together with Ceropegia maccannii, Ceropegia panchganiensis and Ceropegia rollae, was assigned as a synonym to Ceropegia lawii by U. Meve (2002), but according to recent (2009) molecular analyses all five forms represent independent species. |
 left:Ceropegia sahyadrica Photo: mit freundlicher Genehmigung von Cok und Ine Grootscholten Copyright Grootscholten Succulenta nursery, Honselersdijk, The Netherlands http://www.succulenta-kwekerij.nl |
| References: - M. Y. Ansari; B. G. Kulkarni: Ceropegia sahyadrica Ansari & Kulkarni - a new species of Asclepiadaceae from Sahyadri ranges in Maharshtra State. Ind. For. 97: 688-690 (1971) - Focke Albers; Ulrich Meve: Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants: Asclepiadaceae; Springer (November 4, 2002) - T. D. Nika; R. S. Savant: Callus culture and micropropagation of Ceropegia sahyadrica Ans. and Kulk.: An edible starchy tuberous rare asclepiad. Indian Journal of Plant Physiology Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 108-114 (2007) - Siddharthan Surveswaran; Mayur Y. Kamble; Shrirang R. Yadav; Mei Sun: Molecular phylogeny of Ceropegia (Asclepiadoideae, Apocynaceae) from Indian Western Ghats. Plant Systematics and Evolution 281:1-4, 51-63 (2009) |