''Gynostemma'' is a genus of perennial climbing

vine A vine is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas, or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselves, for instance, when used in wicker work.Jackson; Benjamin; Da ...

s in the cucumber, gourd, and melon family, comprising at least 19 species, all native to the tropical East or Far East, inclusive of the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

(with 9

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

); the islands of

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

;

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

; and

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

. The term ''Gynostemma'' is derived from

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

γυνή meaning "woman" or "female",Liddell, H.G. & Scott, R. (1940). ''A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones. with the assistance of. Roderick McKenzie.'' Oxford: Clarendon Press. and στέμμα meaning "

wreath A wreath () is an assortment of flowers, leaves, fruits, twigs, or various materials that is constructed to form a ring shape. In English-speaking countries, wreaths are used typically as household ornaments, most commonly as an Advent and C ...

" or "

garland A garland is a decorative braid, knot or wreath of flowers, leaves, or other material. Garlands can be worn on the head or around the neck, hung on an inanimate object, or laid in a place of cultural or religious importance. In contemporary times ...

". In (post-)classical Latin the form ''stemma'' is attested as Greek

loanword A loanword (also a loan word, loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language (the recipient or target language), through the process of borrowing. Borrowing is a metaphorical term t ...

.Lewis, C.T. & Short, C. (1879). ''A Latin dictionary founded on Andrews' edition of Freund's Latin dictionary.'' Oxford: Clarendon Press.Saalfeld, G.A.E.A. (1884). ''Tensaurus Italograecus. Ausführliches historisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Griechischen Lehn- und Fremdwörter im Lateinischen.'' Wien: Druck und Verlag von Carl Gerold's Sohn, Buchhändler der Kaiserl. Akademie der Wissenschaften. In Ancient Greek and Latin, ''stemma'' is of neuter gender. German-Dutch botanist

Carl Ludwig Blume Charles Ludwig de Blume or Karl Ludwig von Blume (9 June 1796 – 3 February 1862) was a German-Dutch botanist and entomologist who spent most of his professional life in the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies. As deputy director of agricul ...

described ''Gynostemma'' from two species he named:Original text by ''G. pedata'' (later changed, to ''pedatum'') and ''G. simplicifolia'' (also later changed, to ''simplicifolium''). Neither species was clearly designated by him as the

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * ...

; however, the former species, ''G. pedatum'' is now considered to be a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

of ''G. pentaphyllum'' ( Thunb.)

Makino , commonly known as Makino, is a machine tool builder with global sales and service, headquartered in Japan. History Makino was established in 1937 by Tsunezo Makino in Japan, developing Japan's first numerically controlled (NC) milling machi ...

. The genus was published in 1825, in

Carl Ludwig von Blume Charles Ludwig de Blume or Karl Ludwig von Blume (9 June 1796 – 3 February 1862) was a German-Dutch botanist and entomologist who spent most of his professional life in the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies. As deputy director of agricultu ...

's ''Bijdragen tot de flora van Nederlandsch Indië'' ("''Contributions to the flora of the Dutch East Indies''").

General description

All species of ''Gynostemma'' have

tendril In botany, a tendril is a specialized Plant stem, stem, leaf or Petiole (botany), petiole with a thread-like shape used by climbing plants for support and attachment, as well as cellular invasion by parasitic plants such as ''Cuscuta''. There ar ...

s (usually branching); most are

dioecious Dioecy ( ; ; adj. dioecious, ) is a characteristic of certain species that have distinct unisexual individuals, each producing either male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproduction is ...

. The

leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

are usually in palmately arrayed leaflets (3–9, ovate-lanceolate in shape), arranged alternately on the stem; a few species are leaved, but without leaflets.

Inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

s are either

racemose A raceme () or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the shoo ...

paniculate In botany, a panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a pa ...

Fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...

s can be capsular or

pea Pea (''pisum'' in Latin) is a pulse or fodder crop, but the word often refers to the seed or sometimes the pod of this flowering plant species. Peas are eaten as a vegetable. Carl Linnaeus gave the species the scientific name ''Pisum sativum' ...

-like, containing two or three

seed In botany, a seed is a plant structure containing an embryo and stored nutrients in a protective coat called a ''testa''. More generally, the term "seed" means anything that can be Sowing, sown, which may include seed and husk or tuber. Seeds ...

Selected species

* '' Gynostemma aggregatum'' C.Y.Wu & S.K.Chen * '' Gynostemma burmanicum'' King ''ex'' Chakrav. * '' Gynostemma cardiospermum'' Cogn. ''ex'' Oliv. * '' Gynostemma caulopterum'' S.Z.He * '' Gynostemma compressum'' X.X.Chen & D.R.Liang * ''

Gynostemma guangxiense ''Gynostemma'' is a genus of perennial climbing vines in the cucumber, gourd, and melon family, comprising at least 19 species, all native to the tropical East or Far East, inclusive of the Himalayas: China (with 9 endemic); the islands of Japan ...

'' X.X.Chen & D.H.Qin * ''

Gynostemma intermedium ''Gynostemma'' is a genus of perennial climbing vines in the cucumber, gourd, and melon family, comprising at least 19 species, all native to the tropical East or Far East, inclusive of the Himalayas: China (with 9 endemic); the islands of Japan ...

'' W.J.de Wilde & Duyfjes * ''

Gynostemma laxiflorum ''Gynostemma'' is a genus of perennial climbing vines in the cucumber, gourd, and melon family, comprising at least 19 species, all native to the tropical East or Far East, inclusive of the Himalayas: China (with 9 endemic); the islands of Japan ...

'' C.Y.Wu & S.K.Chen * '' Gynostemma laxum'' (Wall.) Cogn. * '' Gynostemma longipes'' C.Y.Wu * '' Gynostemma microspermum'' C.Y.Wu & S.K.Chen * '' Gynostemma pallidinervee'' Z.Zhang * '' Gynostemma papuanum'' W.J.de Wilde & Duyfjes * '' Gynostemma pentagynum'' Z.P.Wang * '' Gynostemma pentaphyllum'' (Thunb.) Makino * ''

Gynostemma pubescens ''Gynostemma'' is a genus of perennial climbing vines in the cucumber, gourd, and melon family, comprising at least 19 species, all native to the tropical East or Far East, inclusive of the Himalayas: China (with 9 endemic); the islands of Japan ...

'' (Gagnep.) C.Y.Wu * ''

Gynostemma simplicifolium ''Gynostemma'' is a genus of perennial climbing vines in the Cucurbitaceae, cucumber, gourd, and melon family, comprising at least 19 species, all native to the tropical East or Far East, inclusive of the Himalayas: China (with 9 endemism, endemi ...

'' Blume * '' Gynostemma yixingense'' (Z.P.Wang & Q.Z.Xie) C.Y.Wu & S.K.Chen * '' Gynostemma zhejiangense'' X.J.Xue : List source :

References

{{Authority control Cucurbitaceae Cucurbitaceae genera Dioecious plants