Matelea
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Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro. 2005. Vines and climbing plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 51: 1-483.
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Family
Apocynaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Description - 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.