Ceropegia ampliata explained

Ceropegia ampliata is a flowering plant in the dogbane family Apocynaceae, native to eastern and southern Africa, including Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa, Eswatini, Botswana, and Madagascar.[1] [2] Common names include bushman's pipe, condom plant, and horny wonder.[3] [4]

Description

Ceropegia ampliata is a trailing plant with a succulent stem and reduced leaves. The leaves may drop early, as the stem is the main photosynthetic organ, and it may form tuberous root structures. Like many Ceropegia, pollination occurs by trapping insects inside of flowers with stiff hairs until a pollenium is attached to the insect's leg or tongue through anther slits on the corona.[5] [6] [7] Unlike other related species however, it is described as extremely generalist and is pollinated by flies from between four and seven fly families.[8] [9]

The flowers of this species are white and light green, occasionally with a light purple ring along the tube. The corolla tube can be curved or straight, with an inflation at the base, and can grow up to 50-70 mm long. They often flower between December and March in their natural habitat. After the fruit follicles dry out and split, the tufted seeds are dispersed by wind.

Notes and References

  1. Book: Retief, E . Plants of the Northern Provinces of South Africa: keys and diagnostic characters. . National Botanical Institute . 1997 . 9781874907305 . Pretoria, South Africa.
  2. Meve . Ulrich . Liede . Sigrid . July 2002 . Floristic exchange between mainland Africa and Madagascar: case studies in Apocynaceae- Asclepiadoideae . Journal of Biogeography . en . 29 . 7 . 865–873 . 10.1046/j.1365-2699.2002.00729.x . 84765967 . 0305-0270.
  3. Web site: Bester . Stoffel Petrus . Ceropegia ampliata . Plant Z Africa . South African National Biodiversity Institute . 30 April 2023.
  4. Web site: Ceropegia ampliata . Top Tropicals . 30 April 2023.
  5. Heiduk . A. . Brake . I. . Tolasch . T. . Frank . J. . Jürgens . A. . Meve . U. . Dötterl . S. . 2010-10-01 . Scent chemistry and pollinator attraction in the deceptive trap flowers of Ceropegia dolichophylla . South African Journal of Botany . Chemical diversity and biological functions of plant volatiles . en . 76 . 4 . 762–769 . 10.1016/j.sajb.2010.07.022 . 0254-6299. free .
  6. Web site: Reynolds . Sage . Ceropegia ampliata . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20221130175725/http://sagereynolds.com/cero/amp.htm . 30 November 2022 . 2023-07-26 . www.sagereynolds.com.
  7. News: Bayer . M. B. . March 1978 . Pollination in Asclepiads . 21–23 . Veld & Flora . live . 25 July 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230726051953/https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.10520/AJA00423203_854 . 26 July 2023.
  8. Coombs . Gareth . Dold . Anthony P. . Peter . Craig I. . 2011-09-01 . Generalized fly-pollination in Ceropegia ampliata (Apocynaceae–Asclepiadoideae): the role of trapping hairs in pollen export and receipt . Plant Systematics and Evolution . en . 296 . 1 . 137–148 . 10.1007/s00606-011-0483-6 . 36698383 . 1615-6110.
  9. Ollerton . Jeff . Dötterl . Stefan . Ghorpadé . Kumar . Heiduk . Annemarie . Liede-Schumann . Sigrid . Masinde . Siro . Meve . Ulrich . Peter . Craig I. . Prieto-Benítez . Samuel . Punekar . Sachin . Thulin . Mats . Whittington . Andrew . 2017-09-01 . Diversity of Diptera families that pollinate Ceropegia (Apocynaceae) trap flowers: An update in light of new data and phylogenetic analyses . Flora . en . 234 . 233–244 . 10.1016/j.flora.2017.07.013 . 62789697 . 0367-2530.

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