June 30th,
2012. We visited our favorite matelea vines – the
Maroon (Matelea carolinensis) and Yellow (Matelea flavidula) Carolina
Milkvines in Hancock County and then
wandered along the roadside looking for other flowers. W spotted a vine with
smallish leaves and even smaller flowers at the bottom of a steep, almost
vertical drop-off beside the road. (W just likes to see if I’ll bite). It was
very hot and I couldn’t quite see getting down the slope let alone up again.
However, we spotted another, much-more-accessible plant a little further along
the road.
The tip of a vine with several
clusters of flowers. This plant would probably go unnoticed unless you’re
walking along a road or trail.
A closer view of the leaves. This plant, a
member of the family Apocyanaceae, has a milky, sticky sap.
A view of several clusters of flowers at the
tip of the vine.
A
closer view of an individual flower
*****
*****
Close
up views of an individual flower from slightly different angles. The flower is
only about one-quarter inch in diameter.
Trachelospermum difforme (Climbing Dogbane) is
native to the United States where it grows from Maryland to Illinois and
southwest to Texas. In Georgia, it has only been documented in several counties
throughout the state. It has not been documented in Hancock County.According to the Integrated Taxonomic
Information System (IT IS), the name Trachelospermum difforme is not accepted
and the species should be named Thyrsanthella difformis.
Click on an image to view a larger image
Identification
resources:
- Southeastern Flora: Trachelospermum difforme (ClimbingDogbane)
- Will
Cook, Duke University: Thyrsanthella difformis (Climbing Dogbane)
Distribution:
- United
States Department of Agriculture Plants Database: Trachelospermum difforme (Climbing Dogbane)
- University of North Carolina Herbarium: Trachelospermum difforme
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