| 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 |
Annual, perennial herb, shrub, vine; sap milky
Leaves simple, generally opposite or whorled; stipules 0 or small
Inflorescence: cyme, terminal or axillary, umbel- or raceme-like, or flower solitary
Flower bisexual, radial; sepals 5, generally reflexed; petals 5, generally reflexed or spreading; stamens 5, fused to form filament column and anther head, generally with 5 elaborate appendages on outside of filament column, pollen removed in pairs of massive sacs; ovaries 2, superior, free, style tips generally fused into massive pistil head surrounded by anther head
Fruit: follicle (1 ovary generally aborts)
Seeds many, ± flat, with tuft of silky hairs
Genera in family: 50–250 genera, 2000–3000 species: especially tropical, subtropical South America, s Africa; ornamental (Asclepias, Hoya, Stapelia). Cardiac glycosides produced by some; used as arrow poisons, in medicine to control heart contraction, and by some insects for defense
Recent taxonomic note: Recently treated to be included within Apocynaceae
Perennial
Stem twining
Leaves opposite; blade cordate, hastate, or ovate
Inflorescence raceme- or panicle-like
Flower: sepals large, leaf-like, ± erect; corolla ± erect (> stamens, pistils), ring of tissue at base 0; filament-column appendages free, attached to base of filament column and base of corolla, without projections, solid (margins curved out but not nearly meeting on side away from column)
Fruit pendent, generally ovoid, with coarse longitudinal grooves
Species in genus: 5 species: South America
Etymology: (P.A. de Matos Araujo, probably a Brazilian or Portuguese collector, born probably latter 1700's)
Reference: [Spellman & Gunn 1976 Castanea 41:139–148]
| Introduced |
Stem < 12 m, soft-tomentose when young
Leaf: petiole > 1 cm; blade 5–12 cm, upper surface glabrous, lower generally densely puberulent
Flower: corolla 2–3 cm, bell- or funnel-shaped, white; pistil head with 2 erect, elongate lobes
Fruit 10–12 cm
Ecology: Citrus groves, disturbed places
Elevation: 100–400 m.
Bioregional distribution: California Floristic Province
Distribution outside California: native to S.America
Weedy.