Orthanthera jasminiflora (Decne.) Schinz

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Image 1
Leaves
27 Feb 2011

Image 2
Leaves
27 Feb 2011

Family:	Asclepiadaceae
Full name:	Orthanthera jasminiflora (Decne.) Schinz
ID status:	Fairly certain
Afrikaans common name(s):	Sandmelktou, Moerwortel
English common name(s):	Jasmine creeper
Synonym(s):	Barrowia jasminiflora Decne. Orthanthera browniana Schinz
Status:	Native
Description:	Perennial climbing or creeping herb up to 5 m long, growing from a stout woody rhizome. Leaves opposite, simple, linear-elliptic to narrowly ovate, 1.5-7 cm long, stiff and leathery, rough to the touch; margin entire but often wavy. Flowers in 2-13-flowered pseudo-umbels, strongly scented; corolla tubular, cream-coloured, pubescent, tube up to 2 cm long, swollen at the base, lobes linear-lanceolate, spreading, up to 12 mm long, spreading. Fruit in paired follicles, up to 10 cm x 12 mm, distinctly beaked. (from Flora of Zimbabwe website) Climbing herb up to 5 m long with a woody, stout rhizome; stem procumbent, branching, scabrous to pubescent. Leaves opposite, simple; petiole 2–10 mm long; blade linear, ovate or elliptical, 1.5–7 cm × 0.5–2.5 cm, base rounded, truncate or cordate, apex acute, margin entire but often wavy or crisped, rather thick and rigid, scabrous-pubescent. Inflorescence an umbel, 2–13-flowered; peduncle up to 4 cm long. Flowers bisexual, regular, 5-merous; pedicel 0.5–1.5 cm long; calyx divided with lanceolate lobes, up to 6 mm × 2 mm; corolla tubular, cream-coloured, strongly scented, pubescent, tube up to 2 cm long, globose-pentagonal at base, cylindrical above, lobes linear-lanceolate, up to 12 mm × 2 mm, spreading; corona lobes 1 mm long; stamens with connivent, linear anthers 1–2 mm long, apiculate; ovary superior, style shorter than anthers. Fruit a pair of follicles, each one fusiform, up to 10 cm × 12 mm, tapering into a long beak. (from http://database.prota.org/PROTAhtml website) Stems prostrate, 1.5–15 ft. long, branching, pubescent or somewhat scabrous; leaves spreading, scabrous; petiole 1–5 lin. long; blade 0.66–2.5 in. long, 0.125–1 in. broad, linear, lanceolate, oblong, ovate to nearly circular, acute or obtuse and apiculate at the apex, rounded, truncate, cordate or subhastate at the base, rather thick and rigid, often wavy or crisped on the margins; umbels pedunculate, 2–13-flowered; peduncle 0.33–0.5 in. long, scabrous or pubescent; bracts 1–2.5 lin. long, 0.25– 0.66 lin. broad, subulate or ovate-lanceolate, acute; pedicels 2–7 lin. long, scabrous or pubescent; sepals 1.5–3 lin. long, 0.66–1 lin. broad, lanceolate, acute or acuminate, pubescent; corolla pubescent all over the outside and within the upper part of the tube, cream-coloured; tube usually 0.5– 0.75 in. long, rarely less, globose-pentagonal (i.e. with 5 inflations between the sepals) at the base, cylindric and 1 lin. in diam. above; lobes usually 4.5–6 lin. long, rarely less, 1.25 lin. broad, more or less spreading, linear-lanceolate, acute, recurved along the margins, glabrous on the inner face; corona-lobes 0.5– 0.66 lin. long, broadly lambda-shaped, adnate to the staminal column, with broad free reflexed margins; staminal column 1.5 lin. long; anthers connivent-erect over and about twice as long as the conical acute style-apex, oblong, with a subulate or deltoid-lanceolate glabrous appendage 1/2 as long as the cells; follicles 4 in. long, 0.5 in. thick, fusiform, tapering into a long beak. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora Capensis) Perennial climbing or creeping herb up to 5 m long, growing from a stout woody rhizome. Flowers in 2-13-flowered pseudo-umbels, strongly scented. (from lifestyleseeds.co.za website)
Link(s)	African Plant Database JSTOR Plant Science Kew Herbarium Catalogue BGBM Berlin-Dahlem - Virtual Herbarium Züricher Herbarien iNaturalist (Namibia / Alex Dreyer) iNaturalist (Namibia) iNaturalist (southern Africa) Flora of Zimbabwe Fleurs de notre Terre - Galerie Namibie Tree Atlas of Namibia
Content last updated:	18 Apr 2024