| TREATMENT FROM THE JEPSON MANUAL (1993) |
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©Copyright 1993 by the Regents of the University of California
For up-to-date information about California vascular plants, visit the Jepson eFlora. |
AND IS MAINTAINED FOR ARCHIVAL PURPOSES ONLY |
Perennial (sometimes annual, shrub, vine, tree); sap milky
Leaves simple, entire, opposite, alternate, or subwhorled; stipules 0 or small
Inflorescence: cyme; flowers 1–many, axillary or terminal
Flower bisexual, radial; perianth parts overlapping, at least in bud; sepals 5, fused at base, persistent; petals 5, fused in ± basal half; stamens 5, attached to corolla tube or throat, alternate lobes; ovaries 2, ± superior, generally free, styles and stigmas fused
Fruit: generally 2 follicles
Seeds many, often with tuft of silky hairs
Genera in family: ± 150–200 genera, 1000–2000 species: especially tropical; many ornamental (Nerium, oleander; Plumeria , frangipani); some alkaloids highly toxic, some used in medicine
Recent taxonomic note: Recently treated to include Asclepiadaceae
Reference: [Rosatti 1989 J Arnold Arbor 70:307–401]
Plant fleshy (including large root), glabrous to tomentose
Stem ± erect
Leaves opposite
Inflorescence: flowers 2–6 near tips of axillary peduncles
Flower: calyx lobes slender; corolla funnel-shaped with 5 rounded appendages behind anthers; stamens appearing attached at base of corolla tube but filaments epipetalous up to stigma level, anthers forming cone around but free from stigma, each partly sterile, sharply sagittate; nectary disk 5-lobed, around and < ovaries; style thread-like, stigma skirted at base
Seed with tuft of long hairs
Species in genus: 1 sp.: CA
Etymology: (Greek: ring gland, from nectary)