''Funastrum cynanchoides'' (formerly called ''Sarcostemma cynanchoides''), also known as fringed twinevine, twining milkweed or climbing milkweed, is a

perennial plant A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

in the family

Apocynaceae Apocynaceae (from ''Apocynum'', Greek for "dog-away") is a family of flowering plants that includes trees, shrubs, herbs, stem succulents, and vines, commonly known as the dogbane family, because some taxa were used as dog poison Members of the ...

that grows twining through other plants in the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily in ...

and

Sonoran Desert The Sonoran Desert ( es, Desierto de Sonora) is a desert in North America and ecoregion that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the southwestern United States (in Arizona ...

. It has milky sap and smells pungent. It is similar to '' Funastrum hirtellum''.

Description

It is a twining vine-like plant that grows over other shrubs. Its narrow, arrowhead shaped

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

are opposite and long. The flowers are pink to purplish, and are produced in umbrella-like heads (

umbel In botany, an umbel is an inflorescence that consists of a number of short flower stalks (called pedicels) that spread from a common point, somewhat like umbrella ribs. The word was coined in botanical usage in the 1590s, from Latin ''umbella'' "p ...

s) up to wide. It has a fruit that is long, with tufted seeds about long.

Distribution and habitat

It can be found from

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. It grows at the edge of

desert dry wash Desert dry wash is a North American desert vegetation type (or biome) occurring in the flat bottoms of canyons and drainages that lack water at or near the surface most of the year, and are subject to periodic severe flooding events.Pam MacKay, Moj ...

es in the eastern

and

at altitudes below . In urban areas the vine freely climbs on plants, trees, as well as having a preference for

chain-link fencing A chain-link fence (also referred to as wire netting, wire-mesh fence, chain-wire fence, cyclone fence, hurricane fence, or diamond-mesh fence) is a type of woven fence usually made from galvanized or linear low-density polyethylene-coated ste ...

in neglected areas. Twining milkweed vine

Ecology

The flowers are actively visited and fed on by butterflies, similar to other milkweeds.

References

External links

Calflora Database: ''Funastrum cynanchoides (Fringed twinevine) USDA Plants Profile for ''Funastrum cynanchoides'' (fringed twinevine)
Asclepiadoideae North American desert flora Vines Flora of the California desert regions Flora of the Sonoran Deserts Flora of Mexico Flora of the South-Central United States Flora of the Southwestern United States Natural history of the Colorado Desert Natural history of the Mojave Desert Butterfly food plants Flora without expected TNC conservation status Taxa named by Joseph Decaisne {{Apocynaceae-stub