''Ceropegia candelabrum'' is the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

in its genus of plants, belonging the subfamily

Asclepiadoideae The Asclepiadoideae are a subfamily of plants in the family Apocynaceae. Formerly, they were treated as a separate family under the name Asclepiadaceae, e.g. by APG II, and known as the milkweed family. They form a group of perennial herbs, twin ...

. The Latin specific epithet ''candelabrum'' is derived from the candelabra-like appearance of the inflorescences.

Vegetative characteristics

''Ceropegia candelabrum'' is a

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

succulent In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word ''succulent'' comes from the Latin word ''sucus'', meani ...

, twining plant with a roundish

tuber Tubers are a type of enlarged structure used as storage organs for nutrients in some plants. They are used for the plant's perennation (survival of the winter or dry months), to provide energy and nutrients for regrowth during the next growing ...

. The strong, bare shoots have a diameter of 3 to 4 mm. The leaves are stalked. The slightly fleshy leaf blades are linear, elliptical to rounded tip sharpened. They are 2 to 7 cm long and 0.8 to 3.5 cm wide.

Inflorescence and flowers

The inflorescence is borne on a 1 to 3 cm long stem. The bill umbels carry 5 to 12 flowers. The flower stems are 3 to 10 mm long, the sepals about 4 mm. The corolla is 2.5 to 4.5 cm high, greenish yellow colored with red-brown stripes.

Distribution and ecology

The species is found in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

as well as in Vietnam before. In India, it blooms from August to January. Fruits are formed from September to January.

Human use and medical importance

The tuberous roots are edible and are eaten especially by the poorest, raw or cooked. The plant is also used for various medicinal purposes, so for hemorrhoids, indigestion, headaches and against bites of poisonous animals. Ceropegia candelabrum is now in the original area has become quite rare. There are already projects for artificial propagation.

Systematics and taxonomy

The species was first described in 1753 by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

. He referred to table 16 of

Hortus Indicus Malabaricus ''Hortus Malabaricus'' (meaning "Garden of Malabar") is a 17th-century botanical treatise on the medicinal properties of flora of the Malabar coast (the Western Ghats district, a region principally covering the areas which are presently in th ...

published in 1689 by Henricus van Rhede. In 1795 the species was described again by William Roxburgh as ''Ceropegia tuberosa'', making C. tuberosa a junior synonym of ''C. candelabrum''. ''Ceropegia candelabrum'' is the type species of the genus ''

Ceropegia ''Ceropegia'' is a genus of plants within the family Apocynaceae, native to Africa, southern Asia, and Australia. It was named by Carl Linnaeus, who first described this genus in his ''Genera plantarum'', which appeared in 1737. Linnaeus referre ...

'' L. Japtap et al. (1999) distinguish two varieties: ''Ceropegia candelabrum'' var. ''candelabrum'' and ''Ceropegia candelabrum'' var. ''biflora'' (L.) Ansari The varieties are not listed by the Plant List, nor the Ceropegia Checklist

References

External links

Vietnam Plant Data Center

Ceropegia candelabrum on the site of Ceropegia Alexander Lang
*
Carl Linnaeus: Species plantarum exhibentes plantas rite cognitas, ad genera relatas, cum differentiis specificis, nominibus trivialibus, synonymis Selectis, locis Natalibus, secundum systema-sexual digestas ...? Stockholm, Salvius 1753. Online at archive.org (Description S. 211)

Henricus van Rhede tot Drakenstein: Hortus Indicus Malabaricus: continens regni Malabarici apud Indos cereberrimi onmis generis plantas rariores, Latinas, Malabaricis, Arabicis, Brachmanum charactareibus hominibusque expressas ... vol. 9, Amsterdam 1689 Online at www.biodiversitylibrary.org (p 27/8, pl. 16)
* William Roxburgh: Plants of the Coast of Coromandel; Selected From Drawings and descriptions presented to the Hon. Court of Directors of the East India Company. Vol. 1, London, Bulmer, 1795 online at Botanicus.org (Description of Ceropegia tuberosa on page 12, pl. 9). * Rafael Govaerts (Eds.): World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (in review): Ceropegia. Published in: the plant list. A working list of all plant species. Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Missouri Botanical Garden, Access 2 December 2011. * Ulrich Meve: Ceropegia Checklist. A guide to alternative names used in recent Ceropegia classification. In: Dennis de Kock, Ulrich Meve:. A Checklist of Brachystelma, Ceropegia and the genera of the Stapeliads International Asclepiad Society 2007, pp 83–113. {{Taxonbar, from=Q1055497

candelabrum A candelabra (plural candelabras) or candelabrum (plural candelabra or candelabrums) is a candle holder with multiple arms. Although electricity has relegated candleholders to decorative use, interior designers continue to model light fixtures ...

Flora of the Indian subcontinent Flora of Vietnam Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus