''Periploca laevigata'' is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

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. Notable mem ...

, native to the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

,Manuel Arechavaleta, S. Rodríguez, Nieves Zurita, A. García (Hrsg.):
Lista de especies silvestres de Canarias. Hongos, plantas y animales terrestres
' (''List of Forest Species of the Canary Islands''). 2009. Gobierno de Canarias, p. 148 the

Savage Islands The Savage Islands or Selvagens Islands ( ; also known as the Salvage Islands) are a small Portugal, Portuguese archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean, south of Madeira and north of the Canary Islands.30,000), white-faced storm-petrel (>80,0 ...

and

Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

.Oromí, Martín, Zurita & Cabrera, 2005 :
Lista preliminar de especies silvestres de Cabo Verde: Hongos, Plantas y Animales Terrestres.
' Gobierno de Canarias, Consejería de Medio Ambiente y Ordenación Territorial, p. 46 The species was described by

William Aiton William Aiton (17312 February 1793) was a Scotland, Scottish botanist. Aiton was born near Hamilton, Scotland, Hamilton. Having been regularly trained to the profession of a gardener, he travelled to London in 1754, and became assistant to Phi ...

and was published in ''

Hortus Kewensis (Latin for 'Kew Garden'; abbr. ) is a series of works cataloguing the plant species in cultivation at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Background Kew became a favored location for English courtiers ...

'' in 1789. Its Spanish names are or . "Cornicabra" means goat horn.

Subspecies

*''Periploca laevigata subsp. chevalieri'' (Browicz) G. Kunkel - found in Cape Verde

Description

The plant is a shrub and can grow up to 2 metres. Its leaves are lanceolate or. Its stems grow up to 15 cm and is about 1 cm thick. Its petals are oblong at the end and has a yellowish-green colour at its ends, inside, it is brown. Its seed pods are long and pointed-like at the ends. Its chromosome number is 2n = 22.''Periploca laevigata''
Tropicos
''IPCN Chromosome Reports''
Missouri Botanical Gardens

Distribution

The plant is native to the

,Alfred Hansen, Per Sunding: ''Flora of Macaronesia. Checklist of vascular plants (= Sommerfeltia. Band 17). 4. revised edition.'' Botanical Garden and Museum, University of Oslo, Oslo 1993, p. 34–35. the

and

, reaching its northernmost distribution in Sicily, in the

Aegadian Islands The Aegadian Islands (; ; ; ; ) are a group of five small mountainous islands in the Mediterranean Sea off the northwest coast of Sicily, Italy, near the cities of Trapani and Marsala, with a total area of . The island of Favignana (''Aegusa'' ...

. In Cape Verde they occur on the islands of Brava, Fogo, Santa Luzia,

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

, Santo Antão and São Nicolau. Some authors put the Cape Verdean subspecies as separate (as ''Periploca chevalieri'', Browicz).

Gallery

File:Periploca laevigata 97E28.jpg, Flower File:Cornical (frutos).JPG, Seed pods File:Cornicabra fruto-1.jpg, Seeds

References

External links

* Periplocoideae Flora of the Canary Islands Flora of Cape Verde Flora of the Savage Islands Plants described in 1789 {{Apocynaceae-stub