Ceropegia aristolochioides deflersiana SC6446

This plant is native to Somalia, Ethiopia, Uganda, Zaire, Chad, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Senegal, with sub species in Tanzania, Zaire, Uganda, and Kenya. It has been known since1838.

This plant has medium thick stems (under 1/4" in diameter), the leaves ar about 2 inches long (40-50cm) and wide when full grown and are soft and fleshy rather than thick and succulent. Each leaf ends with an extended point. This is a rampant grower and an exuberant bloomer. It easily covered this four foot tomato cage and is still reaching out to climb other supports.

Here's a good look at an individual flower.

This ceropegia began to bloom in late August, it's now October and the vine still has flowers on it. Last week it had so many flowers on it I could hardly believe it, at each leaf there have been 5-8 flowers blooming in succession. It also became apparent why it is called 'aristolochiodes' not only for the shape but also for the way the blooms mature.The buds are held upright and they remain that way for 1 day after opening. On the second day, the pedicel tilts the flowerhead downwards as if it's trying to catch a breeze directly in the corolla tube, the flower looks much more like an aristolochia in that stage and it stays that way until the flower drops to the ground. Rather than catching breezes, it's more likely that the opened blooms might be making way for the fresher flowers.

Now we can look inside the flower. It looks to be uniformly hairy from top to bottom except for the ares immediately around the basal structure.

Two views inside the lower end of the corolla tube, we can't see the stigmas as they are behind the pollinaria, the vertical structures are extentions of the corolla. See the ampliata page for an annotated photo naming the parts.

A closer look at the richly colored corolla top.