Ceropegia longifolia subsp. sinensis H. Huber

Species 5 to 9 are difficult to define. The extremes are distinctive but there is variation in all the characters (indumentum, leaf size and shape, peduncle length, and inflorescence size) used to define them.

Stems twining, to 1.5 m, pale gray, glabrous. Petiole to 1 cm; leaf blade linear-lanceolate, 5-12 × 0.5-2 cm, base cuneate, ciliate, adaxially sparsely pubescent, abaxially glabrous, ± glaucous. Inflorescences (1- or)2-7-flowered; peduncle 0.2-3 cm, sparsely pubescent. Pedicel 1-1.5 cm, glabrous. Sepals linear-lanceolate, 5-6 × ca. 1.5 mm, glabrous. Corolla (2.2-)3-4.7 cm, glabrous outside; tube streaked and blotched purplish maroon, inflated base 4-6.5(-10) mm wide, narrowing to (1.3-)2-4.5 mm and then widening to 4-12(-16) mm at base of lobes; lobes (0.8-)1-2.2(-2.5) cm, base ± triangular, pale, apical part slender, darker, coherent at apex, keeled, pilose inside, sometimes with conspicuous white or purple marginal vibratile hairs. Corona usually glabrous, outer 10-lobed, sometimes ciliate; inner lobes twice as long, linear-lanceolate, obtuse. Follicles linear-lanceolate in outline, ca. 10 cm × 5 mm. Fl. Jul-Aug, fr. Sep-Oct.

Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan, Yunnan

* Dense forests; 500-1500 m.

Ceropegia dolichophylla var. brachyloba Handel-Mazzetti; C. dolichophylla var. purpureobarbata W. W. Smith; C. longifolia Wallich subsp. sinensis H. Huber; C. profundorum Handel-Mazzetti.