Ceropegia stalagmifera

Description

Caralluma stalagmifera is a plant species from the subfamily of the milkweed family (Asclepiadoideae). It occurs in India. Caralluma stalagmifera is a perennial succulent plant. It develops sparsely branched stems up to about 60 cm high, which taper sharply towards the tip. They have a diameter of 5 to 8 mm and are square in cross-section with rounded edges. The upper section of the shoot axis, which forms the inflorescence, is round. They are greenish in color, with the edges often overflowing with reddish. The small leaves are narrow and triangular with a length of 2 to 3 millimeters. The inflorescence usually carries only one, at most two flowers. The small bracteoles are sub-triangular. The slender, about 5 mm long flower stalk is spread. The hermaphrodite flower is radial symmetry and fivefold. The five sepals are 1.5 to 2 mm long. The five petalsare fused basally, the central part is briefly funnel-shaped. The fleshy corolla is wheel-shaped with a diameter of about 1 cm. The color of the corolla is greenish on the outside, uniformly dark cream to dark crimson on the inside, and the corolla tube is cream. The oval-lanceolate petal lobes are hairy at the top, the edges are turned outwards and the insides are silky shiny. The movable hairs on the tip of the petal tips are up to 2 mm long, white to dark purple in color and hang down (species name!). The basal parts of the petal tip margins are often simply hairy. The side crown is colored dark purple. The interstaminale accessory petals are cupped at the base and filled with nectar. They are deeply notched towards the tip. Standing erect, they show the general form is lanceolate-linear. The staminal side petal lobes are triangular-lanceolate, emarginate at the upper end or finely tridentate. The side edges may overlap slightly. They are often finely downy hairy. The pollinia measure 0.25 × 0.3 mm. The follicles are green in color with crimson streaks. Caralluma stalagmifera was first described in 1925 by Cecil Ernest Claude Fischer in Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information Kew, p. 430 The specific epithet stalagmifera alludes to the hanging hairs on the tips of the petal tips, from Greek το στάλαγμα for drops.