Matelea producta

Plant: Perennial herbaceous vine, irsute to pubescent, twining vines from a woody base, the hairs mixed with shorter, glandular, mostly yellow- to brown-tipped trichomes; milky sap Leaves: cordate to subhastate, more or less abruptly narrowed to an attenuate tip, 1-9 cm long; petioles 1-3 cm long, shorter than the blades INFLORESCENCE: umbelliform, the peduncles tardily elongating to 3 cm. Flowers: ca. 1 cm long; calyx lobes ca. 3 mm long, half as long as the corolla tube; corolla greenish yellow, pubescent outside, glabrous inside, cylindric-campanulate, the tube 4-7 mm long, the lobes oblong, erect, about as long as the tube, the tips spreading; crown included deep within the corolla tube and arising from it, cup-shaped, 1-2 mm long, about as long as the stigma head, the rim entire and undulate to mostly notched opposite the corpuscula, the inner surface with 5 fleshy protuberances opposite the anthers; gynostegium subsessile, the anther head disk-shaped, the anther wings ca. 0.25 mm long; corpusculum 0.2-0.3 mm long, the pollinia horizontal from the translator arms, deltoid to oblong-quadrate, ca. 0.4 mm across; stigma head apically flat, depressed in the center Fruit: FOLLICLES 9-12 cm long, glabrous Misc: Desert grasslands, chaparral, alluvial thickets, mts; 900-1700 m (3000-5500 ft); May-Aug REFERENCES: Sundell, Eric. 1994. Asclepiadaceae. J. Ariz. - Nev. Acad. Sci. Volume 27, 169-187.

Sundell 1993

Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Vine General: Hirsute to pubescent, twining vines from woody base, hairs mixed with shorter, glandular, mostly yellow to brown tipped trichomes. Leaves: Cordate to subhastate, more or less abruptly narrowed to an attenuate tip, 1-9 cm long, petioles 1-3 cm long, shorter than blades. Flowers: Umbelliform inflorescences, peduncles tardily elongating to 3 cm, flowers about 1 cm long; calyx lobes 3 mm long, half that of the corolla tube; corolla greenish yellow, pubescent outside, glabrous inside, cylindric-campanulate, tube 4-7 mm long, lobes oblong, erect, about as long as tube, tips spreading; crown included deep within corolla tube and arising from it, cup-shaped, 1-2 mm long, about as long as stigma head. Fruits: Follicles 9-12 cm long, glabrous. Ecology: Found in grasslands, chaparral, alluvial thickets from 3,000-5,500 ft (914-1676 m); flowers May-August. Distribution: AZ, NM, s TX; south to n MEX. Notes: This species is fairly different from the other southwestern species, M. parvifolia. Distinguished by being a perennial, twining vine from a giant, enlarged root; glandular stems; lvs 2-9 cm long (much shorter in M. parvifolia); the green flowers and glabrous, non-warty fruits. Ethnobotany: The seeds were eaten fresh or boiled. Etymology: Matelea is thought to be named for the French botanist Jean Baptiste Cristophore Fusee Aublet (1720-1778), while producta means stretched out. Synonyms: Gonolobus productus Editor: SBuckley, 2010