Ceropegia Sandersoni, Decne ex Hook. f. in Bot. Mag. t. 5792; Fl. Cap.
vol. iv. sect. i. p. 815.
On Plate 39 we figured a species of Ceropegia (C. Rendalii), which is one of a group of four species characterised by the corolla-lobes being united into an umbrella-like canopy supported by 5 short stalks. The species on the accompanying plate is another of this group, and should be compared with C. Rendalii and C. tristis (Plate 44).
The original description and plate appeared in the Botanical Magazine in 1869, and were based on specimens sent to Kew by Mr. Sanderson in 1868, and which subsequently flowered there. The plant lends itself very well to cultivation in the green-house, and is an object of beauty and curiosity when in flower. It does not appear to have been extensively collected, and may not be very common. In its native habitat it flowers during the month of February.
As far as we are aware, there is no local name for the plant, and we would therefore suggest “Sanderson’s Canopy Flower� as an appropriate name. According to Gerrard the stems and leaves are eaten by the Kaffirs and have an agreeable, sauce-like flavour.
Our plate was prepared from living specimens collected by Mr. W. J. Haygarth at Entumeni, Zululand.
Description:—“Roots tuberous similar to those of a Dahliaâ€� (Gerrard); stem twining, 3 to 4 mm. thick, fleshy, glabrous, slightly rough to the touch; leaves fleshy, glabrous; petiole 2 to 6 mm. long, stout; blade 1·5 to 4·5 cm. long, 1·5 to 2·5 cm. broad, ovate-lanceolate to broadly cordate-ovate, acute or shortly cuspidate-acute, light green; cymes[{96}] with 2 to 4 flowers, developed singly, glabrous; peduncles 4 to 10 mm. long, 3 to 4 mm. thick; pedicels 6 to 10 mm. long, nearly or quite 3 mm. thick, becoming stouter in fruit; sepals 6 to 7 mm. long, 2 mm. broad, narrowly oblong, acute, longitudinally folded, glabrous; corolla-tube curved, 3 to 4 mm. long, with an oblong inflation 6 mm. in diameter at the base, narrowed above and enlarged to 1·5 cm. or 2 cm. in diameter at the funnel-shaped mouth, glabrous with the exception of a few hairs at the very base inside; striped with green and white on the upper part outside and within, light green on the inflation outside, dull greyish-or purplish-green within, with numerous ribs, which abruptly terminate at the base of the purple contracted part; lobes united into a flattish 5-keeled umbrella-like canopy 3 to 4 cm. in diameter, supported on 5 short claws, with 5 broad obtuse slightly bifid marginal much-arched lobes, ciliate with vibratile white hairs, its centre distinctly depressed, with a 6-pointed tubercle above and a 5-ribbed projection beneath, yellowish-green, spotted with light green above and with brighter green underneath, with the ribbed projection beneath and some spots around it blackish-purple; outer corona 1 mm. long, cup-shaped, not pentagonal, truncate, entire, whitish, with the margin and at its junction with the inner corona-lobes purple-brown, ciliate with white hairs; inner corona-lobes 3 mm. long, incumbent on the backs of the anthers, with erect filiform tips, recurved at the apex, dorsally connected to the outer corona at the base, glabrous, white; follicles horizontally diverging, 7 to 14 cm. long, 6·5 to 7 mm. thick, terete, tapering from about the middle to a slightly dilated umbonate apex about 4 mm. in diameter, irregularly rugose and tuberculate, glabrous, green, stained with dull purplish. (Flora Capensis.)
Plate 143.—Fig. 1, outer corona lobe; Fig. 2, inner corona lobes; Fig. 3, pollinia.
F.P.S.A., 1924.