吊灯花 diao deng hua

Ceropegia angustilimba Merrill; C. jucunda Kerr.

Rootstock a cluster of fusiform roots. Stems twining to 1.5 m, straw gray, glabrous except for nodes. Petiole to 2.8 cm, winged, appressed pubescent; leaf blade oblong-lanceolate or elliptic-oblong, ca. 4.5 × 2.5 cm, membranous, adaxially appressed pubescent, abaxially glaucous and glabrous except for midvein, base rounded or cuneate, apex acute; lateral veins 6 or 7 pairs. Inflorescences 1- or 2-flowered; peduncle 1.4-3.5 cm. Pedicel 1-1.5 cm. Sepals linear-lanceolate, 3-4(-6) × ca. 1 mm. Corolla glabrous, 3-4.5 cm; tube green and white, 1.5-2 cm, base obliquely inflated ovoid, 3.7-4.5 mm wide, limb narrowly funnelform, 3-3.5 mm wide; lobes dark purple, 1.8-2 cm, very slender, almost threadlike with spatulate tips. Outer corona lobes deeply 2-toothed, teeth ± triangular, ciliate; inner lobes ligulate, to 3 mm, villous. Follicles fusiform, ca. 20 cm × 5 mm. Fl. Aug-Oct, fr. Oct-Dec.

Open woodland, bushland; 100-1000 m. Guangdong, Hainan [Thailand]

The plant figured as Ceropegia trichantha in Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. (63: 573, t. 218, 1977) is a form of C. longifolia Wallich. Huber (Mem. Soc. Brot. 12: 54. 1957) included Ceropegia trichantha in the Indian C. lucida Wallich subsp. lucida. Material so named is extremely variable and probably represents more than one taxon.