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Cynanchum parviflorum

(Smallflower Swallow-Wort)

Overview

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Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Common Names in English:

Smallflower Swallow-Wort

Description

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Family Apocynaceae

Trees , shrubs , or vines , rarely subshrubs or herbs, with latex or rarely watery juice. Leaves simple , opposite, rarely whorled or alternate, pinnately veined; stipules absent or rarely present. Inflorescences cymose , terminal or axillary , with bracteoles. Flowers bisexual , 5- [or 4]-merous, actinomorphic . Calyx 5- or rarely 4-partite, quincuncial, basal glands usually present. Corolla 5- or rarely 4-lobed, salverform , funnelform , urceolate , or rarely rotate, lobes overlapping to right or left, rarely valvate . Stamens 5 or rarely 4; filaments short; anthers mostly sagittate , free or connivent into a cone adherent to pistil head , dehiscing longitudinally, base rounded , cordate, sagittate, or prolonged into an empty spur; pollen granular ; disc ringlike or cup-shaped, 2-5-lobed, or absent. Ovaries superior, rarely half-inferior, connate or distinct , 1- or 2-locular; ovules (1 or) 2-numerous per locule. Style 1; pistil head capitate, conical , or lampshade-shaped, base stigmatic, apex 2-cleft and not stigmatic . Fruit a berry, drupe, capsule, or follicle. Seeds with or without coma; endosperm thick and often horny , scanty, sometimes absent; embryo straight or nearly so, cotyledons often large, radicle terete .

About 155 genera and 2000 species distributed primarily in the tropics and subtropics, poorly represented in the temperate regions . Of the 44 genera and 145 species present in China, one genus and 38 species are endemic, and nearly 95% of the taxa grow in the southern and southwestern portions of the country.

Fruit type is highly diversified in the family , and it is diagnostic of many genera. Genera 1-4 produce 1, 2-celled berries from a flower; genus 5 produces 2, 1-celled berries from a flower; 6 and 7 produce mostly fleshy follicles containing deeply indented seeds with ruminate endosperm; 8 has follicles and winged seeds; 9 produces follicles and seeds with 2 comas; 10-12 have follicles with globose seeds; 13-18 have drupes mostly with fleshy mesocarp; 19 has samaroid fruit; 20 has spiny capsules with seeds winged all around; and 21-44 have free or fused follicles and comose seeds. Double flowers are known only from cultivated forms of Nerium oleander, Tabernaemontana divaricata, and Wrightia religiosa.

Plants of the Apocynaceae are often poisonous and are rich in alkaloids or glycosides, especially in the seeds and latex. Some species are valuable sources of medicine, insecticides , fibers, and rubber.[1]

Genus Cynanchum

Subshrubs or perennial herbs, erect or twining , often rhizomatous . Roots fibrous , woody or fleshy . Leaves opposite, rarely whorled , often petiolate , axils sometimes with small stipulelike leaves. Inflorescences extra-axillary or occasionally terminal , rarely axillary , umbel-like, corymbose , or racemelike. Sepals erect, often with basal glands . Corolla rotate or subrotate; tube short; lobes patent or reflexed , overlapping to right or left, rarely subvalvate. Corona inserted at base of gynostegium, membranous or fleshy, cupular, cylindric , or deeply 5-divided, sometimes with adaxial appendages . Filaments connate into tube, anthers with membranous apical appendages; pollinia 2 per pollinarium , pendulous. Stigma head convex or short conical . Follicles fusiform or lanceolate, usually smooth , rarely narrowly winged or setose .

About 200 species: Africa, North and South America, Asia, Europe; 57 species in China.[2]

Physical Description

Habit: Vine , Forb/herb

Biology

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Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Taxonomy

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Synonyms

Cymanchum parviflorum Swartz • Metastelma parviflorum (Sw.) R. Br. Ex J. A. Schultes • Metastelma parviflorum R.Br. • Metastelma suberosum Grisebach

Notes

Publishing author : Sw. Publication : Prodr. (Swartz) 53 1788 [20 Jun-29 Jul 1788]

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Cynanchum

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 31 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

C. anegadense (Caribbean Swallow-Wort) · C. angustifolium (Gulf Coast Swallow-Wort) · C. aphyllum (Cynanchum) · C. arizonicum (Arizona Swallow-Wort) · C. barbigerum (Bearded Swallow-Wort) · C. blodgettii (Blodgett's Swallow-Wort) · C. cheesmanii (Cheesman's Swallow-Wort) · C. cubense (Cuban Swallow-Wort) · C. danguyanum (Cynanchum) · C. ephedroides (Puerto Rico Swallow-Wort) · C. formosum (Swallow-Wort) · C. grisebachianum (Grisebach's Swallow-Wort) · C. laeve (Blue Vined Milkweed) · C. ligulatum (Mexican Swallow-Wort) · C. lineare (West Indian Swallow-Wort) · C. louiseae (Black Swallow-Wort) · C. maccartii (Maccart's Swallow-Wort) · C. marnierianum (Cynanchum) · C. microphyllum (Swallow-Wort) · C. monense (Mona Island Swallow-Wort) · C. northropiae (Fragrant Swallow-Wort) · C. odoratum (Latexplant) · C. parviflorum (Smallflower Swallow-Wort) · C. perrieri (Swallow-Wort) · C. pringlei (Pringle's Swallow-Wort) · C. racemosum (Talayote) · C. racemosum var. unifarium (Talayote) · C. rossicum (European Swallow-Wort) · C. scoparium (Leafless Swallow-Wort) · C. utahense (Swallowwort) · C. vincetoxicum (White Shallow-Wort)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Bingtao Li, Antony J. M. Leeuwenberg & David J. Middleton "Apocynaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 16 Page 143. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. "Cynanchum". in Flora of China Vol. 16 Page 205. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
Last Revised: 7/15/2012