Origin and Habitat: Angola, Mocambique, Republic of South Africa (Eastern Cape. KwaZu-lu-Natal, Limpopo, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Northern Prov.).
Habitat and Ecology: Dry forest. The population trend is stable

• Ceropegia haygarthii Schltr.
• Ceropegia distincta subs. haygarthii (Schltr.) H.Huber

• Ceropegia haygarthii Schltr.
• Ceropegia distincta subs. haygarthii (Schltr.) H.Huber
• Ceropegia tristis Hutch.

Description: Ceropegia haygarthii is a semi-evergreen, strong growing, twining stem-succulent, with small ovate leaves. Stalk 3-6 mm thick and up to 3 metres long. These species has developed elaborate cage-like flowers that temporarily trap insects feeding on the nectar. The flowers are about 4 cm long and 25 mm in diameter, the tube is cream are flecked with purple-maroon swollen at the at base, curved upwards and expanding funnel-like, the 5 little pale pink or pale green lobes are folded inwards almost at right angles and form five septa which divide the funnel of the corolla from above and meet in the centre of the flower, then uniting into a small pistil-like column, and on top forming another small chamber of 8 mm in diameter which has a ring of long hairs round the edge, the whole resembling an insect hovering over a flower; the column and the upper chamber usually dark purple. The inside of the flowers are covered with hairs that point downward. This ?traps? flies inside and won?t let them out until the fly is covered in pollen. Once that happens the hairs wither allowing the fly to leave and spread its pollen around. This species has been Known Since 1905.
Roots: Fibrous or fleshy.
Stems: Climbing or trailing, fleshy, to 3 m long, and 3-4(-6) mm thick, green, covered with a glaucous bloom, glabrous or slightly verrucose.
Leaves: Small, fleshy, flat, 30- 70 mm long, 20-52 mm broad, ovate, ovate-lanceolate, or cordate, acuminate, partly apiculate. Petiole c. 1 cm long.
Inflorescences (cymes): 11- to 3- (to few-)flowered, lateral at the nodes with only one flower open at a time. Peduncles 2-4 cm long, glabrous; bracts 2-4 mm long, subulate. Pedicels 4-14 mm long, glabrous.
Flowers: About 4-5 cm long variable in colour and form. Sepals 3-10 mm long, subulate, acute, glabrous yellowish, often blotched with red. Corolla abruptly bent at a right-angle near the base. Tube (following the bend) about 2.5- 3 cm long, globosely inflated at the base, cylindric above, enlarging to about 14-20(-25) mm in diameter at the mouth, whitish-yellowish, pinkish-white or greenish tinted, spotted with violaceous or red-brown, glabrous outside, inside often purple or striped, pilose with very fine long hairs. Lobes whitish with fine (red-) brown reticulation at the broad base, apically red-brown, free at the base, abruptly inflexed over the mouth of the tube and produced beneath into broad triangular partition-like green plates or keels (septa), meeting at the centre and connate into a slender erect column 10-14 mm long, then again becoming free and expanding into elliptic-lanceolate replicate segments connate at the tips, forming a small apical ellipsoid cage-like body 3-6 mm long, ciliate on the margins, dull purple or purple-brown. Corona in the flowers seen much eaten by insects, but apparently the outer corona is cupular, with 5 acutely bifid lobes rising to the level of the top of the staminal column, ciliate and hairy within with long fine hairs. Inner corona-lobes 2 mm long, linear or linear-spathulate, connivent-erect over the staminal column, with very revolute tips. Pollinia 0.3 x 0.2 mm.
Related species: Ceropegia haygarthiiSN|32456]]SN|32459]] is closely related to and likely nothing more than a southern variety of Ceropegia distinctaSN|32459]]SN|32456]], it is also related to Ceropegia somalensis but easily tell apart by the glabrous outside of the corolla.
Fruits (follicles:) Narrowly subulate, 8-12 cm long, green, sometimes speckled purplish. The follicles are usually in pairs, but very often only one of them develops and the other is aborted.

Bibliography: Major references and further lectures
1) N. E. Brown ?Flora Capensis?, Vol 4, 1909
2) Focke Albers, Ulrich Meve ?Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants: Asclepiadaceae: Asclepiadaceae?, Volume 4 Springer Science & Business Media, 2002
3) Scott-Shaw, C.R. ?Rare and threatened plants of KwaZulu-Natal and neighbouring regions.? KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service, Pietermaritzburg.1999
4) Manyama, P.A. & Kamundi, D.A. 2006. Ceropegia haygarthii Schltr. National Assessment: Red List of South African Plants version 2015.1. Accessed on 2016/01/23
5) Hermann Jacobsen ?A Handbook of Succulent Plants: Descriptions, Synonyms, and Cultural Details for Succulents Other Than Cactaceae?, Volume 1 Blandford Press, 1960
6) Focko Weberling ?Morphology of Flowers and Inflorescences? CUP Archive, 03 September 1992
7) Murray W. Nabors ?Introduction to Botany? Pearson Benjamin Cummings, 2004
8) ?Graf, Tropica?, 148, 149 1978
9) Dyer. ?Ceropegja, Brachystelma & Riocreruda?, 167, 169 1983
10) Archer, ?Kenya Ceropegia scrapbook.? 125-36 1992
11) James Cullen, Sabina G. Knees, H. Suzanne Cubey ?The European Garden Flora Flowering Plants: A Manual for the Identification of Plants Cultivated in Europe, Both Out-of-Doors and Under Glass? Cambridge University Press, 11/Aug/2011
12) Christopher Brickell ?RHS Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers? Dorling Kindersley Ltd, 01 September 2010

Cultivation and Propagation: Ceropegia haygarthiiSN|32459]]SN|32459]] grows best in tropical or subtropical climates. It i is one of the easiest of all the ceropegias to grow. It used an ornamental vine and makes also an excellent and unusual house plant or can be set outside in pots as long as you remember to bring it in when it starts to get cooler. A little bit of shade and regular watering (be careful not to over-water) means an easy care plant, which is great as most plants with unusual blooms require some specialized care.
Exposure: It need partial shade or filtered sun. Shade is sometimes provided in hot climates.
Substratum: The plants like a rich, porous, well-drained soil mix, with extra leaf mould added but aren't usually too picky as to soil type.
Watering: During the growing season (March-August), the plants are watered on a regular basis, making sure that they never dry out completely with an occasional spray over the foliage. In late August, water is restricted to about once a week until January. Night temperatures at this time should be about 10° C. In January or February, watering is stopped for a period of 4 weeks. In March, regular watering is resumed.
Fertilization: They are fertilized on a monthly basis with a balanced fertilizer during active growing phase.
Hardiness: Will tolerate temperatures to 45° C, but prolonged cold will damage or kill the plant.
Maintenance: Start new plants at least every two years if not every year. The previous year's stems turn white and after a few years they seem less capable of supporting new growth. New roots in new soil will grow a more rewarding plant. Flowers appear on new growth, and providing the plant is warm enough, it will bloom profusely for a long period during the summer;
Propagation: It is propagated by stem cutting or (rarely) by seed in the spring. It is a vigorous plant that will root where it touches the ground. Seed should be sown in well-drained compost and should germinate in 14 to 28 days at 18 to 21° C.