Cionura

Cionura
Cionura erecta
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Gentianales
Family: Apocynaceae
Subfamily: Asclepiadoideae
Tribe: Marsdenieae
Genus: Cionura
Griseb.
Binomial name
Cionura erecta
Synonyms[1]
  • Cynanchum erectum L.
  • Cynanchum pallidum Salisb.
  • Cynanchum rectum Forssk. ex Decne.
  • Marsdenia erecta (L.) R. Br.
  • Pergularia erecta (L.) Spreng.

Cionura is a genus of perennial plants found through the Mediterranean regions, the South and Eastern parts of the Balkan peninsula and Asia Minor to Afghanistan. It contains only one known species, Cionura erecta.[1]

The plants are woody stems, either upright or twinning with numerous herbaceous sprawling stems and poisonous milky sap. Bright-green broadly ovate leaves 7–12 cm long and 4–8 cm wide. Large clusters of delicate fragrant white flowers borne terminally from April to June. The plants bare fruits 8 cm long, with papery flap. Seeds have wide marginal wing all around with a terminal tuff of long white silky hairs. Because it is a poisonous plant, goats and sheep do not approach it.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 The Plant List
  2. ↑ Flowers of Chania (Crete), Cionura erecta


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