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 volume 1 of his Species plantarum, which appeared in 1753. Linnaeus thought that the flowers looked like a fountain of wax. From this the scientific name was derived: keros meaning wax and pege meaning fountain (Pooley, 1998). They have many common names including lantern flower, parasol flower, parachute flower, bushmans pipe, string of hearts, snake creeper, wine-glass vine, rosary vine, and necklace vine.Ceropegia species are traded, kept, and propagated as ornamental plants.