Ceropegia woodii
Schltr.
Chain of hearts
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(c) David Midgley, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND)
iNaturalist· cc-by-nc
(c) Simon Attwood, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
Summary
Source: WikipediaCeropegia woodii is a flowering plant in the dogbane family Apocynaceae, native to South Africa, Eswatini and Zimbabwe. It is sometimes treated as a subspecies of the related Ceropegia linearis, as C. linearis subsp. woodii. Common names include chain of hearts, collar of hearts, string of hearts, rosary vine, hearts-on-a-string, and sweetheart vine.
Description
A vine that keeps growing from year to year. It grows 1 m high and spreads 1 m wide. The stems are slender and twining. The leaves are heart shaped and silver and purple. The flowers are small purple tubes. They have expanding lobes.
Edible Uses
The roots and tubers are edible.
Distribution
It is a subtropical plant. It is best in rich, well-drained soils. It needs a sunny position. It is damaged by drought or frost. It needs a temperature above 15°C.
Where It Grows
Africa, Asia, Australia, Eswatini, India, South Africa*, Southern Africa, Swaziland, Tasmania, Zimbabwe,
Cultivation
It can be grown by seeds, cuttings or division of the tubers.
Notes
Also put in the family Asclepiadaceae.
Synonyms
Also Known As
Srčastolistna svetilnica
References (4)
- Bodkin, F., 1991, Encyclopedia Botanica. Cornstalk publishing, p 242
- East African Herbarium notes, 1981,
- Mutie, F. M., et al, 2023, Important Medicinal and Food Taxa (Orders and Families) in Kenya, Based on Three Quantitative Approaches. Plants 2023, 12, 1145
- Peters, C. R., O'Brien, E. M., and Drummond, R.B., 1992, Edible Wild plants of Sub-saharan Africa. Kew. p 63
