Family: Apocynaceae

Sub-family: Asclepiadoideae

The family form part of the milkweeds. The Asclepiadaceae, commonly known as milkweed family, is a former plant family now treated as a subfamily (subfamily Asclepiadoideae) in the Apocynaceae (Bruyns 2000). (Source: Wikipedia)

Ceropegias are also called lantern flowers.

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 (Wikipedia)

1. Ceropegia meyeri

This is a perrenial twine with annual stem growing from a disc-like tuberous rootstock. Milky sap present. The stem and leaves dissappear in winter.

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2. Ceropegia racemosa subsp. setifera

This is a perrenial twine with annual stem growing from a tuber. The stem and leaves dissappear in winter. Easily overlooked species.

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According to the source below, the root is edible and tastes like Jerusalem artichoke. It contains around 95% water and is used as an emergency source of liquid by local people.

The young leaves are cooked and apparently have an acid taste.

The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa. Burkil. H. M. Publisher: Royal Botanic Gardens; Kew. 1985 – 2004

Brief descriptions and details of the uses of over 4,000 plants. A superb, if terse, resource, it is also available electronically on the Web – see http://www.aluka.org/