Ceropegia hybrida hort.


This plant is a horticultural hybrid (supposedly) between C. nilotica and C. elegans. More research on my part will hopefully answer this with certainty.

It has thick stems and very small leaves. The buds are pale and sculptural. The flowers are about 3" long marked with striking, bold olive green spotting that gives the neck a marbled appearance and a velvety, irridescent blackish top. This ceropegia likes to climb, it will flower where it vine is highest.

I have rooted this ceropegia in leca stones and once started, it grew rampantly. I will transplant some of these cuttings into orchid seedling mix without the addition of the peat/perlite mix. The vigor shown in the stones may indicate that it should be grown more like an epiphyte and not have its roots smothered with a heavier potting mix. I'll keep you posted.

MARCH 98: I put three rooted cuttings into a 10" clay pot in orchid seedling mix with a 2' trellis, and grew it outside. They grew well and flowered all summer. There is a large pair of warty seed pods on it now.

SEPTEMBER 99 I have planted the seeds and they are growing slowly. I transplanted a first batch into individual pots and that seemed to set them back; but everything has been growing slowly this year and the bud count is way down, even on great performers like haygarthii and stapelliformis. The second batch is doing much better, I just broke the seedlings into two pieces instead of planting individual seedlings into separate pots and they are looking much better. As the weather has cooled they seem to be showing more vigor. These seeds were planted in March '99 and are now about 6-7" long.