The margins are untoothed and is not thickened. The veins on the underside are sparsely to densely covered with minute, transparent, flattened hairs. The lower surface is light green or grayish-green, not shiny, and often somewhat covered with a whitish, waxy coating (glaucous). The upper surface is green, hairless, and not shiny. The leaf tips may be broadly rounded tapered with convex sides along the tip or rounded with a short, sharp, abrupt point, at the tip. They are wedge-shaped or shallowly heart-shaped at the base. The leaf blades are narrowly to broadly egg-shaped or nearly round, 1 ½ ″ to 3 ½ ″ long, and 1 ¼ ″ to 2 ⅜ ″ wide. Nearly every leaf axil bears a pair of long, conspicuously curled tendrils that cling to adjacent plants or structures for support. They are on hairless, ⅝ ″ to 3 ½ ″ long leaf stalks (petioles) that are shorter than the leaf blades. The leaves are alternate and deciduous, and are distributed evenly on the stem. There are more than 25 leaves on a mature stem. They are not armed with bristles or prickles. They are soft and easily crushed between fingers, even when dry. They extend up to 80 ″ to 100 ″ in length. The stems are green and almost always branched. It is the most common and widespread species of Smilax in Minnesota. Species epithet 'gigantea' means 'gigantic', a reference to the large flowers of the plant.Blue Ridge carrionflower is an annual, non-woody (herbaceous), climbing vine that rises from a rhizome. Genus epithet 'Staphelia' named by father of modern taxonomy Linnaeus in honour of Dutch botanist and physician Johannes Bodaeus van Stapel (1602-1636), who discovered a related species in South Africa. Propagate by seeds or stem cuttings (let callus form before planting in well-drained media). Stems tend to rot in waterlogged and moist conditions, can be saved if rotten parts are cut off, and healthy sections allowed to callus for 2-3 weeks before planting. Water plant only when soil is thoroughly dry. Prefers well-drained, loose loamy to sandy-rocky soils. Latest accepted family name is Apocynaceae.ĭry forests and open bushland or savannah areas, establishing under light shade of trees or on flat ground with broken grass cover. Note: Previously placed in Asclepiadaceae family. Scented like rotten animal carcass, attract pollinator carrion-flies and bluebottles, which are sometimes fooled into laying eggs amongst the hairs of the flower.Įxplosive seedpods (follicles), produced in pairs and united at base, resembling goat's horns, containing small flat, tufted seeds that are dispersed by wind. Texture leathery, edged with profuse hairs along margins. Individual open flowers 20-40cm across, star-shaped, very showy, cream-coloured with crimson to brownish transverse lines and deep red central disk. This species produces the largest flowers of all existing succulents in the world. Stems start branching near base of plant to form clumps, rooting whenever they touch the ground. Stems serve as water storage and photosynthetic tissue for plant, green when plant is supplied with sufficient water, turn reddish or brown during drought-stress. Reduced to very small (0.5mm), dry papery remnants at tips of stem tubercles, no longer photosynthetic.įinger-like, fleshy, 4-sided, spineless but ridged with 'teeth' (tubercles), texture somewhat velvety. Cactus-like succulent shrub with shallow root systen, up to 0.3m tall and 1m wide under ideal conditions.
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