Cynanchum racemosum (Jacq.) Jacq. var. unifarium (Scheele) Sundell, talayote. Cynanchum racemosum var. unifarium — TALAYOTE [Apocynaceae/Asclepiadaceae] Perennial herbaceous vine, twining, not rosetted, several–stemmed at base, climbing on neighboring plants and fences; shoots with only cauline leaves, stems with long internodes, short–hairy and lacking glandular hairs; latex white.
Stems cylindric, to 2 mm diameter, tough, green aging reddish, internodes to 140 mm long, with a line of short hairs from node to next node.
Leaves opposite decussate, simple, petiolate, without stipules; petiole narrowly channeled with ridges, 10—55 mm long, sometimes twining, short–hairy; blade < 20—100 × < 20—73 mm, cordate at base and the larger leaves with conspicuous basal lobes, entire, abruptly acute to acuminate at tip, pinnately veined with principal veins sunken on upper surface and conspicuously raised on lower surface, upper surface with green conic projections of midrib < 1 mm tall and principal lateral veins at base, lower surface sparsely hairy with most hairs ± appressed to principal veins.
Inflorescence cyme, axillary typically 1 per node, racemelike, flat–topped, to 50 mm long, nodes along axis helically alternate, 10+–flowered, with a condensed (1—)2–flowered cyme at each node, bracteate, short–hairy; rachis zigzagged, axes yellow–green, short–hairy with curved hairs; bractlet subtending pedicel, cupped awl–shaped, ± 2 mm long, yellow–green, sparsely short–ciliate on margins, with several hairs approaching tip, early–abscised; pedicel cylindric, ± 6 × 0.8—0.9 mm, short–hairy but often with glabrous strip on lower side.
Flower bisexual, radial, 5 mm across; calyx 5–lobed; tube to 0.5 mm long; lobes ascending, cupped–oblong to oblong–obovate, 2—2.2 × 0.7—1 mm, green with thinner, whitish margins, margins short–ciliate; corolla 5–lobed; tube saucer–shaped, ± 1 mm long, continuous with filament column above; lobes ovate, ca. 3 × 1.3—1.5 mm, light yellowish green, curved upward and then recurved approaching tip, finely 3–veined; stamens 5, fused into staminal column with filaments surrounding but free from lower pistils and anthers fused to enlarged stigmatic head (stigma + anthers = gynostegium) with a whorl of 5 appendages (corona) from upper filament column; filament column ca. 1 mm long, fused at base to corolla tube, light greenish yellow, with 5 ribs diverging to corona; corona fused ca. 0.5 mm, corona hoods opposite calyx lobes, cobraheadlike and 3–lobed above midpoint, ca. 1.3 mm long, light yellow to whitish, curved inward toward top of gynostegium, lacking horns; anthers dithecal, ± trapezoidal, < 1 mm long, (broad at base), laterally winged, bulging and fused to stigma except for wings and terminal appendage, anther sacs and connective yellowish, laterally appressed to adjacent wing of neighboring anther and forming a slit with gland (corpusculum) of pollinia positioned above slit; terminal appendage appressed to side of gynostegium, free portion membranous and semi–circular, ca. 0.5 mm across; pollen united into pollinia, each pollinium sausage–shaped (not flattened), ca. 0.6 mm long, orange–yellow, united by red translator arms ca. 0.2 mm long to a ruby red corpusculum opposite corolla lobe just above vertical slit; pistils 2, together chalice–shaped, ca. 2.8 mm long; ovaries superior, narrowly conic, ca. 1 mm long, pale green, glabrous, each 1 chambered with many ovules; styles below gynostegium ca. 1.3 mm long, white, fused above midpoint; gynostegium capitate (includes some stylar tissue), ca. 1 × 1.6 mm, the top flat, 5–lobed, the top star–shaped, papillate, and greenish, slightly extended over top with colorless, papillate knob nearly touching corpusculum.
Fruit follicle, dehiscent, many–seeded, narrowly ovoid, 75—95 × 30—33 mm, light green, smooth, flattish on 1 side, rounded and slightly grooved on side of aperture, obtuse to rounded at tip, glabrous.
Seed winged–obovate with silky hairs, 6.3—7.2 × 5.5—6 mm, seed chamber obovate and lens–shaped, brown, wing margin ± wavy, having short lines of papillate cells on wing and chamber; seed hairs attached to truncate base, hairs fine, (9—)17—34 mm long, white.
A. C. Gibson