String of Hearts (Ceropegia woodii) is a vine-like plant with beautiful heart-shaped leaves. This is a hanging plant. Its long, pendulous branches make this lush plant a great addition to any room or garden. This plant is easy to care for and thrives in a little sunlight and moderate watering. The String of Hearts’ green and silvery leaves make it distinctive. Its striking appearance and ability to grow well in a small space enhances the beauty of a home. The floral formula and other information of this hanging plants is explained below –
Scientific Name: Ceropegia woodii
Some Basic Information about String of Hearts plant (the hanging plants)
Habit: Perennial, trailing herb or delicate vine, 30–120 cm long, forming slender, vine-like stems that hang or sprawl (hanging plant)
Root: Tuberous roots, often forming small, rounded, bead-like swellings at nodes (tubercles), adapted for water storage
Stem: Slender, flexible, trailing, sometimes slightly woody at the base, produces aerial tubers (bulbils) along nodes
Leaf: Opposite, petiolate, simple, heart-shaped (cordate) to oval; foliage is fleshy, patterned with silvery or whitish markings above and purplish beneath
Inflorescence: Axillary clusters or solitary flowers arising along the stem; slender peduncles support one or a few flowers
Flower: Bracteate, complete, actinomorphic (slightly zygomorphic in some forms), bisexual, hypogynous, tubular, with five fused petals forming a cage or lantern-like structure; corolla pink or purple, lobes sometimes with darker tips
Calyx: Sepals 5, free, narrow, green, with valvate aestivation
Corolla: Petals 5, fused into a tube with lobes spreading or slightly reflexed at the top; twisted aestivation; apex notched or slightly lobed
Androecium: Stamens 5, free, inserted at the base of corolla tube; anthers oblong, closely surrounded by the base of the style
Gynoecium: Ovary superior, bicarpellary (two carpels), syncarpous, style single with two spreading stigmas; placentation marginal
Fruit: A pair of slender follicles, containing many seeds crowned with long silky hairs (coma)
Floral formula:Br ⊕ ⚥ K5 C(5) A5 G(2)
Systematic Position
Division – Angiospermae
Class – Dicotyledonae
Order – Gentianales
Family – Apocynaceae (subfamily Asclepiadoideae)
Genus – Ceropegia
Species – woodii