The first ceropegia I ever saw was in a black and white photograph in a book of cactus and succulents by Edgar Lamb (when I was about 10 years old). It was Ceropegia radicans, I was struck by the unusual flower and its graphic coloring. This was a plant I wanted to grow. It wasn't until the late 80's that I was able to find and begin to grow these interesting plants.

Ceropegias are members of asclepidacea, the milk weed family, and are native to the old world. The genus is comprised of more than 250 species and a few hybrids. They occur, starting from the West, with C.fusca in the Canary Islands, running through tropical Africa to Madagascar, the Arabian peninsula, and then on to the Indian sub-continent and China, ending with C.cummingiana from the Indonesian archipelago to northern Australia. They are plants of tropical and sub tropical regions occurring in a wide range of habitats from equarotial forest to semi desert but are not found in true deserts.

This wide climactic and geographical range gives rise to a variety of plant shapes and habits. Most ceropegias are vines but there are some that resemble small bushes, stands of gray organ pipes(fusca) or crawling snakes(stapelliformis) and legless lizards(armandii). The stems can be as thick as cigars or as thin as twine. The leaves usually appear in opposing pairs at nodes along the stem. They can be absent (devechii), miniscule(stapelliformis), very succulent(sandersonii), paper thin and deciduous (elegans), large and broad(cummingiana) or needle-like(dichotoma). The roots of some ceropegias are fleshy like those of a clivia, others are fibrous and some are tubers. All of these characteristics are products of evolving in climates of seasonal drought and terrains of varying soil qualities.

The flowers usually consist of a tube, with down pointing hairs inside. The tube can have parallel sides or flare like a trumpet, ending with five corolla lobes which are open (stapelliformis) or joined at the tips (ampliata). The flowers are usually whitish with combinations of bright green, brown and maroon spots, stripes and shading. At the base inside the flower is the corona which contains the reproductive parts of the flower.

Ceropegia ampliata is native to South Africa: Transvaal, Natal, and the Cape province. It has been known since 1837.

This plant has fibrous roots and miniscule to invisible leaves. The flowers usually appear in September in unbelievable numbers, completely covering the plant with its large white and green flowers for about two weeks. C. ampliata is fairly easy to grow in ordinary well-draining potting soil.The plant trails and then will weakly attempt to climb before it begins to bloom, for this reason I think it is best to grow C. Ampliata in a hanging basket I feed the plants a diluted 20-20-20 at every watering. As the plant moves outside for the summer I hang it on the north side of my porch where the light is bright without having direct sunlight and I water it like all the other plants in baskets.

Ceropegia haygarthii var.distincta is native to Natal, Cape Province, and Angola. It has been Known Since 1905. It is one of the easiest of all the ceropegias to grow, with only woodii and the debilis varieties being easier. The flowers are almost comical with their fuzzy antennae, shaded corollas and crisp maroon spots. the stems are a little more than an eighth of an inch thick, the roots are fibrous and its leaves are not succulent. It is a vigorous plant that will root where it touches the ground. I would suggest that you start new plants at least every two years if not every year. The previous year's stems turn white and after a few years they seem less capable of supporting new growth. New roots in new soil will grow a more rewarding plant. Flowers appear on new growth, and providing the plant is warm enough, it will bloom profusely for a long period during the summer; I suspect in warmer climates, with annual re-potting and heavy feeding it could be in continuous bloom. Temperature seems to be the sensitive issue. I've had buds appear in early April as the days begin to noticibly lengthen, however, they would all abort until temperatures at night were above 60° F.

Ceropegia stapelliiformis is native to the Cape Province (South Africa) and has been known since1827. This is one of the first ceropegias that I collected. It's probably one of the easiest to grow. Its main attraction is its thick maroon and gray mottled snake-like stem. It has fleshy fibrous roots and it will propagate easily when the temperatures are warm. It took a while before I was able to bring it into bloom. The trick seems to be to take new cuttings each year and grow them on in new soil. The old stems will put out new growth that breaks off easily, sometimes the new shoots form roots before I break them off. You can tell when it wants to bloom because the stems thin down and start to climb, once the stem is about two feet higher than the roots buds start to form. The flowers are larger than haygarthii at about 2 and a half inches long and the corolla opens to expose a fuzzy pale green star. It seems to like high shade where it gets some morning and afternoon sun, when I have grown it in full sun the would always grow away from the light snaking around pots until it was warm enough to climb and bloom . It has never set seeds for me even though I have seen a lot of small flies on the corolla lobes while the flowers are open. As you see in this picture, it can be a prolific bloomer.

From observing this plant's behavior I could see how some ceropegias evolved a strategy for survival. The growth cycle begins and the plant moves horizontally along the ground moving toward dappled sunlight underneath shrubs. Here there is leaf mold for nutrients, a moister micro climate conducive to root growth and vertical branches on which to climb and display the flowers where they will be more easily found by pollinators.

The stapeliiformis in these pictures bloom at about two feet in length which is good for us who grow our collections in pots. I've read that some of the tropical ceropegias won't bloom until the vines are near 200 feet in length. The serpentina variety of stapelliiformis is a much shyer bloomer, I've had one plant for almost three years and have seen only one flower. The thinner greenish stems grew over three feet long before it bloomed, it had a very elegantly colored flower, all green and white without any red in it.

Ceropegia sandersonii is native to Mozambique, Transvaal, and Natal. It has been known since 1869. This plant has medium sized, very succulent, lanceolate leaves: medium thick stems, and fleshy roots. It is fairly easy to grow and when it gets enough light and food it will reward you with a display of spectacular 4 inch flowers. Each year the plant will send up new growth from its roots, these are the stems that will bloom, so at the end summer or some time in the fall, it would be advantageous to cut the plant back. Cutting the plant back will also make it easier to bring inside, it's amazing how long the vine will grow in the course of a summer outside.

Ceropegia monteroie is native to Ndumu Game reserve (among other places?) This plant, related to sandersonii, is fairly new in the market place. It is remarkably easy to grow and is a prolific bloomer. The bright chartreuse flowers are about 3 inches long and have a lively purple fringe on the lobes that move in the slightest breeze.

The plants I've just described above are among the easiest of ceropegias to grow and flower. With the advent of the internet, more sources for these and other ceropegias have opened up and it is now possible for anyone to collect and grow a few. (Over the years I have grown many species from all parts of the ceropegia world, except India and China whose export policies make it exceedingly difficult to obtain living plant material or seeds. Some have been very difficult and others a delight.) The real key seems to be heat, most of these plants would be happy if the temperature were in the high 70's all of the time, blooming is a combination of day length and warm night time temperatures. Soil does not seem to be as important, many of the plants will develop seasonal roots which dry up and die off in the plant's dormant season.