XVI International Botanical Congess

Ceropegia L. comprises many variable species complexes often accompanied by wide distributions in Africa and Asia. Huber (1957) classified Ceropegia into 21 sections, most of which are however unnatural, because of the undue emphasis placed on variable characters. This study shows that there are three basic infrageneric groups circumscribed by characters of the pollinaria, corona, corolla, growth form and root systems. Corona characters are similar within species complexes, in contrast to the mostly variable corolla which provides many useful characters for delimiting specific and infra-specific taxa.