| 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, shrub
Stem twining (elsewhere sometimes prostrate to ± erect)
Leaves opposite; blade often linear to narrowly lanceolate or hastate
Inflorescence axillary, often umbel-like
Flower: corolla generally ± spreading to ± erect, with ring of tissue at base; filament-column appendages free, ± spheric, attached to base of filament column, projections hollow; pistil head ± conic, 2-lobed, or both
Fruit generally erect, narrowly fusiform to narrowly ovoid, with fine longitudinal grooves
Species in genus: ± 34 species: North America, Africa to Australia
Etymology: (Greek: fleshy crown, from sac-like filament-column appendages)
Reference: [Holm 1950 Ann Missouri Bot Gard 37:477–560]
| Native |
Plant green; hairs generally sparse, ± appressed
Leaf: blade base generally hastate or truncate
Flower: corolla pink to purple, or lobes white with purple streak; filament-column appendages free from ring of tissue at base of corolla
Fruit generally 1
Ecology: Dry, sandy, rocky arroyos or plains, in ditches near cultivated
Elevation: 30–1600 m.
Bioregional distribution: Desert
Distribution outside California: to Utah, Arizona, Mexico
Flowering time: Apr–JulHorticultural information: TRY.