Copy permalink to share
Apocynaceae
Thyrsanthella

not marked as a favorite taxon Thyrsanthella (Baillon) Pichon. Common name: Climbing Dogbane.

A monotypic genus, a liana, of se. North America (Endress et al. 2018). This species has been traditionally treated as the only North American taxon of Trachelospermum, an otherwise se. Asian genus of about 15-20 species. Such a treatment is untenable, however, as morphological and molecular evidence clearly show that our native taxon is only distantly related to Asian Trachelospermum (Livshultz et al. 2007); it is most closely related to the small genus Pinochia M.E. Endress & B.F. Hansen, of the Greater Antilles, Mexico, and Central America (Endress & Hansen 2007).

Glossary (beta!)

Subfamily: Apocynoideae. Tribe: Odontadenieae. Subtribe: Cycladeniinae.

ID notes: Sterile Thyrsanthella difformis is sometimes mistaken at a glance for Gelsemium (both woody vines with opposite lanceolate leaves), but in the field the milky sap of Thyrsanthella provides an immediate identifying characteristic.

References: Endress & Hansen (2007); Endress et al. (2018) In Kadereit & Bittrich (2018); Lemke (2023r) In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (2023c); Livshultz et al. (2007). Show full citations.

Show in key(s)

Show parent family | Show parent in key(s)

Show species in Thyrsanthella

Your browser does not support SVGs

Hover over a shape, letter, icon, or arrow on the map for definition or see the legend. Data for arrows not developed for genera and families which may have species only occurring outside the flora area.

image #1 of Thyrsanthella© Bruce A. Sorrie | Thyrsanthella difformis
image #2 of Thyrsanthella© Sonnia Hill | Thyrsanthella difformis | Original Image ⭷
image #3 of Thyrsanthella© Gary P. Fleming | Thyrsanthella difformis

Feedback

See something missing or incorrect about Thyrsanthella? Let us know here:
  1. Please include your name and if possible, email in case when need to clarify what you wrote.
  2. If you opt out of including email, please be as specific as possible (e.g., which photo is incorrect?)
  3. Please do not submit questions asking to identify plants or about horticultural topics (e.g., how do I control an invasive plant in my garden?). Instead, those questions can be submitted here for the Carolinas region only.
  4. Please do not send us feedback about unkeyed species as this work is ongoing.
  5. Please allow time for flora edits to show in our next data release. We greatly appreciate your feedback but may require extra time to research complicated taxonomic issues.