Ceropegia tavalla (K.Schum.) Bruyns

Bruyns, Peter V., Klak, Cornelia & Hanáček, Pavel, 2018, An account of Ceropegia sect. Chamaesiphon (Apocynaceae) in Moçambique with new records and two new species, Phytotaxa 364 (2), pp. 111-135 : 131

Ceropegia tavalla (K.Schum.) Bruyns ( Figs. 19 , 20 )

Ceropegia tavalla was described from a collection made by W. Goetze near Iringa in central Tanzania. ( Masinde 2007) recorded no further collections from Tanzania, though it has been recollected there and material (Specks (BOL)) from Tanzania was used in Bruyns & al. (2015). Several other records were made from Zimbabwe (Percy-Lancaster 1997). The two collections listed below are the first records for Moçambique ( Fig. 19 ).

The collection Bruyns 8636, from close to the border with Tanzania, was found on pale grey slightly loamy sand under Brachystegia -trees, where it was common and the plants reached 15 cm tall. Each plant bore 3 to 8 pairs of leaves and 1–8 flowers opening in gradual succession in small clusters next to the short petioles. The plants had very dark, bad-smelling flowers. Bruyns 9712 was from around 250 km further south-east and was found on the edge of Brachystegia -forest. Here the flowers were concealed close to the ground beneath a quite broad canopy of leaves on short stems 6–8 cm long.

The flower of C. tavalla ( Fig. 20 ) is usually around 15–18 mm in diameter, with the lobes spreading around a very short tube <1 mm long. The lobes are usually 8–10 mm long and have scattered hairs along their margins as well as many usually darkly-coloured hairs up to 5 mm long on the inside towards their tips, each arising from a small papilla ( Fig. 20 E ). The corona also has an unusual appearance and the outer series consists of a cup-like structure deeply notched opposite the guide-rails. It usually has a blackish, thickened margin that is darker than the lower parts. Our results ( Bruyns et al. 2015) showed that C. tavalla (represented by Specks (BOL) from Tanzania) is part of the ‘Kalahari-group’.

Figures

FIGURE 19. Known distribution of Ceropegia tavalla in Moçambique.

FIGURE 20. Ceropegia tavalla. A, side view of flower (scale of B = 2 mm); B, side view of dissected flower (scale 2 mm); C, side view of gynostegium (scale of D = 1 mm); D, face view of gynostegium (scale 1 mm); E, hairs on face of corolla (scale of D = 0.5 mm); F, pollinarium (scale of D = 0.25 mm). Drawn from: Bruyns 8636 (BOL, MO).