Sarcostemma
Encyclopedia
Flowering plant
The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...
s in the dogbane
Apocynum
Apocynum, commonly known as Dogbane and Indian Hemp, is a genus of the plant family of the Apocynaceae with seven species. From the Greek: apo, away; cyno, dog, attributed to its toxicity...
family, Apocynaceae
Apocynaceae
The Apocynaceae or dogbane family is a family of flowering plants that includes trees, shrubs, herbs, and lianas.Many species are tall trees found in tropical rainforests, and most are from the tropics and subtropics, but some grow in tropical dry, xeric environments. There are also perennial herbs...
. The name is derived from the Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
words σαρκὸς (sarkos), meaning "flesh," and στέμμα (stemma), meaning "garland". Members of the genus are known generally as climbing milkweeds or caustic bushes. They are found across Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
and tropical Asia
Tropical Asia
Through a crop-based biodiversity, natural resources and animals , Tropical Asia is economically and physiogeographically rich. There are 16 countries of Tropical Asia ranging in size from around 610 km² to 3,000,000 km²...
, in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, and in parts of North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. These plants are perennial flowering shrub
Shrub
A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...
s with trailing vine
Vine
A vine in the narrowest sense is the grapevine , but more generally it can refer to any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent, that is to say climbing, stems or runners...
s or liana
Liana
A liana is any of various long-stemmed, woody vines that are rooted in the soil at ground level and use trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the canopy to get access to well-lit areas of the forest. Lianas are especially characteristic of tropical moist deciduous...
s. They are often adapted to heat and/or desert
Desert
A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...
conditions. Some have few or no leaves and photosynthesize in the tissues of the green stems. The soft stems are filled with a milky white latex
Latex
Latex is the stable dispersion of polymer microparticles in an aqueous medium. Latexes may be natural or synthetic.Latex as found in nature is a milky fluid found in 10% of all flowering plants . It is a complex emulsion consisting of proteins, alkaloids, starches, sugars, oils, tannins, resins,...
that is poisonous and caustic
Corrosive
A corrosive substance is one that will destroy or irreversibly damage another surface or substance with which it comes into contact. The main hazards to people include damage to the eyes, the skin, and the tissue under the skin; inhalation or ingestion of a corrosive substance can damage the...
in some species. The flowers have a ring of thick tissue at the base which extends into hollow spherical appendages within the flower corolla.
Selected species
- Sarcostemma acidum (Roxb.) Voigt
- Sarcostemma angustissimaSarcostemma angustissimaSarcostemma angustissima is a species of plant in the Asclepiadaceae family. It is endemic to Ecuador.-References:* Tye, A. 2000. . Downloaded on 23 August 2007....
R.W. Holm - Sarcostemma australe – caustic vine
- Sarcostemma brevipedicellatum
- Sarcostemma decorsei
- Sarcostemma esculentum
- Sarcostemma hirtellumSarcostemma hirtellumSarcostemma hirtellum , is a perennial, vine-like plant of mid- to lower-elevation desert regions. It is a member of the Asclepiadaceae family, and the Sarcostemma genus, the climbing milkweeds...
(A.Gray)-Schltr. (syn. Funastrum hirtellum) – hairy milkweed - Sarcostemma membranaceum
- Sarcostemma mulanjense
- Sarcostemma socotranumSarcostemma socotranumSarcostemma socotranum is a species of plant in the Asclepiadaceae family. It is endemic to Socotra Island South of Yemen. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry shrubland.-Source:* Miller, A. 2004. . Downloaded on 23 August 2007....
Lavranos - Sarcostemma viminaleSarcostemma viminaleSarcostemma viminale, also known as the Rapunzel plant, is a climbing milkweed native to Africa.-External links:*...
(L.) R.Br. – Rapunzel plant
Formerly placed here
- Funastrum cynanchoides (Decne.) Schltr. (as S. cynanchoides Decne.)
- Funastrum clausum (Jacq.) Schltr. (as S. apiculatum Decne., S. clausum (Jacq.) Schult., and S. riparium Decne.)