CEROPEGIA MATTHEWIANA

This member of the Asclepiadaceae* family was given this name by Peter Vincent Bruyns in 2017. It is found a single area on the eastern slopes of the higher mountains west of Madurai in the south-eastern India, growing in a well drained soil with some water and lots of sun. The caudex can grow from three to five centimetres in diameter, the entire plant to five centimetres in height. The flowers are greenish and purple to black.

The genera name is from the Greek word keropegion meaning 'candelabrum', because Linnaeus thought that the flowers looked like candles. The species name after Koyapillil Mathai Matthew, 1930–2004, an Indian Jesuit priest and botanist, who worked in that area. *)Accordantly to the latest taxonomic system; APG IV 2016, Asclepiadaceae is now part of the Apocynaceae. Drawing from the original description.