Strophanthus caudatus

Description 2

Lianas woody, to 12 m, glabrous except for flowers, latex clear or white. Trunk to 1.5 cm in diam.; branches dark brown, lenticellate. Petiole 3-13 mm; leaf blade elliptic, obovate, or ovate, 5-24 X 2.5-11 cm, leathery or papery; lateral veins 5-13 pairs. Cymes 5-15 cm, 5-25-flowered; bracts 2, linear, 2-12 mm, deciduous. Pedicel 7-11 mm. Sepals ovate or narrowly triangular, 0.3-1.9 cm, glabrous. Corolla white, turning yellow then red, red or purple streaked inside, glabrous or only distal part puberulent, tube 1.2-2.6 cm; lobes broadly ovate, abruptly narrowed to tail, 4.3-25.5 cm, tail pendulous, 1.5-3.2 mm wide; corona lobes tongue- or awl-shaped, 3-10 mm. Stamens puberulent, connective exserted. Ovary glabrous or puberulent. Style 0.9-1.5 cm. Follicles oblong, 10-30 X 3-4.8 cm, divergent at 150-200°. Seeds 1-2.5 cm, beak 2.3-4.6 cm, coma 5-9 cm. Fl. Apr-Jun. 2n = 20.

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) Yee Alex Thiam Koon, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://www.flickr.com/photos/haloriyee/13885254048/
  2. (c) Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/4982413

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