Summary ³

Matelea is a genus of flowering plants in the dogbane family, Apocynaceae. It contains about 200 species, which are commonly known as milkvines.

Diagnostic description ⁴

Matelea

Erect subshrubs or twining vines, with abundant milky latex; with or without an indumentum of glandular hairs. Leaves opposite, petiolate; blades simple, with glands at the base; stipules absent. Flowers in axillary cymes, with short peduncles or subsessile. Calyx with 5 elongated sepals, usually glandular inside at the base; corolla subrotate, more or less lobed; corona annular, of staminal origin; stamens 5, inserted at the base of the corolla, the filaments connate, forming a short tube, the anthers concrescent around the style, pollinia horizontal or subpendulous; ovary superior, of two free carpels, the stigma capitate, projecting beyond the anthers. Fruit a fusiform to ovoid follicle, smooth or muricate; seeds numerous, with a tuft of hairs at the apex. A genus of 300 species, distributed from southern North America to South America, including the Antilles.

Sources and Credits

1. (c) kim fleming, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.flickr.com/photos/48889105167@N01/526617486
2. (c) Steven J. Baskauf, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu/baskauf/27777
3. Adapted by Jonathan (JC) Carpenter from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matelea
4. (c) Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/28435107

More Info

• iNat taxon page
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• BOLD Systems BIN search
• eFloras.org
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
• SEINet Symbiota portals
• Tropicos

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