Species
+

Ceropegia woodii Schltr.

Rosary Vine, String Of Hearts, hearts entangled

Climate known 14 photographs Cactus or succulent
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Ceropegia woodii is a flowering plant in the dogbane family Apocynaceae, native to South Africa, Eswatini and Zimbabwe. It is sometimes treated as a subspecies of the related Ceropegia linearis, as C. linearis subsp. woodii. Common names include chain of hearts, collar of hearts, string of hearts, rosary vine, hearts-on-a-string, and sweetheart vine.

Text from Wikipedia, “Ceropegia woodii”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Ceropegia

Ceropegia is a genus of plants within the family Apocynaceae, native to Africa, southern Asia, and Australia. It was named by Carl Linnaeus, who first described this genus in his Genera plantarum, which appeared in 1737. Linnaeus referred to the description and picture of a plant in the Horti Malabarici as the plant for which the genus was created. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Ceropegia”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Apocynaceae
Described by
Schltr.
Native to
Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Cape Provinces +3
Wild records
63 in range· 51 open

At a glance

Warmest month
25°C
Jan, mean day; nights 16 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
770mm/yr
9 wet months · peak Jan 122 mm (CHELSA)
Light
21–40DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a cactus or succulent by the genus Ceropegia, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to September in the northern hemisphere (October to March at the habitat, southern). Habitat rain 770 mm a year, wettest January at 122 mm, driest July at 16 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 21 to 40 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 4.3 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Ceropegia barbertonensis N.E.Br.; Ceropegia euryacme Schltr.; Ceropegia hastata N.E.Br.; Ceropegia leptocarpa Schltr.; Ceropegia linearis subsp. woodii (Schltr.) H.Huber and 1 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a cactus or succulent by the genus Ceropegia, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table holds no figure for this group, which spans too much for one minimum; the cold floor is the habitat's alone, and no prose comes from the table.

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to September in the northern hemisphere (October to March at the habitat, southern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (604 mm of 770 mm) falls in October to March, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 19.9 °C against a yearly mean of 17.5 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: April to September.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 770 mm a year, wettest January at 122 mm, driest July at 16 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

770 mm a year at the habitat, 604 mm of it October to March. Wettest month January at 122 mm, driest July at 16 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 565 mm to 1124 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 21 to 40 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 21 to 40 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 17, the highest 90th-percentile month 48).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 4.3 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 4.3 °C, the absolute minimum 1.1 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 36.1 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 7.0 °C in July (across the envelope cells 3.1 °C to 11.6 °C), warmest day 25.3 °C in January (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 4.3 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 54 to 63% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 19 °C in Jun to 25 °C in Jan; mean night from 7 °C in Jul to 17 °C in Feb. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 770 mm of rain a year, most in Jan. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 59 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 1.1 °C and the 99th-percentile day 36.1 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°20°30°40°36.1° 99th-percentile day (undated)1.1° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 21–40RH 54–63 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 59 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C25 / 23–2925 / 23–2924 / 22–2723 / 21–2521 / 19–2319 / 16–2119 / 17–2121 / 18–2322 / 19–2522 / 20–2624 / 21–2725 / 23–28
Night °C16 / 14–2017 / 14–2016 / 13–1913 / 10–1710 / 7–158 / 4–127 / 3–128 / 5–1311 / 8–1412 / 10–1514 / 12–1716 / 13–18
Rain mm122 / 48–191102 / 44–18485 / 56–14249 / 35–7222 / 14–4318 / 10–4516 / 7–4225 / 10–6236 / 17–5979 / 46–109100 / 60–154116 / 52–179
DLI40 / 36–4738 / 35–4233 / 31–3628 / 25–3124 / 20–2821 / 17–2622 / 19–2727 / 23–3131 / 30–3635 / 32–4138 / 34–4540 / 36–48
RH %63 / 58–6663 / 58–6663 / 58–6561 / 56–6356 / 52–5954 / 51–5654 / 50–5655 / 50–5856 / 50–6161 / 53–6362 / 56–6462 / 58–65

Each figure is the median across the 59 grid cells holding the 61 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 2392:4207 (-29.625, 30.375). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 1.1 °C, 1st-percentile night 4.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 36.1 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 59 distinct grid cells holding the 61 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2392:4207 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -29.50_30.625, lapse-corrected -84 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 665 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeMozambique, Zimbabwe, Cape Provinces, KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland, Northern Provinces· introduced: Bismarck Archipelago, Society Is.
Kew's description“climbing tuberous geophyte” · “subtropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-25.125, 30.875 · in the densest population, 32 records (51% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 63 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 51 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 28 km away. 29 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 2 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 63 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Ceropegia woodiiCeropegia woodiiCeropegia woodiiCeropegia woodiiCeropegia woodiiCeropegia woodiiCeropegia woodiiCeropegia woodii

Photographs: (c) katuchka, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); no rights reserved · CC0 (4); Jimmy Whatmore, CC0, iNaturalist via GBIF (2).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Ceropegia woodii, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Building a model: developing genomic resources for common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) with low coverage genome sequencing
Shannon C. K. Straub, Mark Fishbein, Tatyana Livshultz, Zachary Foster (2011) · BMC Genomics
Structure and biomechanics of trapping flower trichomes and their role in the pollination biology ofAristolochiaplants (Aristolochiaceae)
Birgit Oelschlägel, Stanislav N. Gorb, Stefan Wanke, Christoph Neinhuis (2009) · New Phytologist
La familia Apocynaceae Sensu Lato en México: diversidad y distribución
Verónica Juárez Jaimes, Leonardo O. Alvarado‐Cárdenas, José Luís Villaseñor (2007) · Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad
Origin of the epidermis in root meristems
F. A. L. Clowes (1994) · New Phytologist
Variable Secondary Metabolite Profiles Across Cultivars of Curcuma longa L. and C. aromatica Salisb.
Poonam Kulyal, Satyabrata Acharya, Aditya B. Ankari, Praveen K. Kokkiripati (2021) · Frontiers in Pharmacology
Biotechnological interventions for propagation, conservation and improvement of ‘Lantern Flowers’ (Ceropegia spp.)
Jaykumar J. Chavan, Nikhil B. Gaikwad, G. B. Dixit, Shrirang R. Yadav (2017) · South African Journal of Botany
Insecticidal activity of essential oil from Eucalyptus globulus against Aphis nerii (Boyer) and Gynaikothrips ficorum (Marchal)
Sebastián Russo, M. A. Yaber Grass, H. C. Fontana, E. Leonelli (2018) · Agriscientia
Des hydathodes aux nectaires foliaires chez les plantes tropicales
Monique Belin-Depoux (1989) · Bulletin de la Société Botanique de France Actualités Botaniques

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Ceropegia 699 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 22 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.