Matelea biflora
Matelea baldwyniana
star milkvine, two flower matelea, two-flower milkvine
Baldwin's milkvine, baldwyn's milkweed, climbing milkweed
4–10, decumbent, often branched near base, 7–40 cm, hirsute with long eglandular and minute glandular trichomes.
1(–3), twining, 100–200 cm, hirsute with eglandular and inconspicuous glandular trichomes.
1 or 2 colleters on each side of petiole;
petiole 0.5–2.5 cm, hirsute with long eglandular and minute glandular trichomes;
blade ovate to deltate, 0.8–5 × 0.6–3.2 cm, base shallowly to deeply cordate, with 0–2 laminar colleters, apex acute (rounded), surfaces hirsute with long eglandular and minute glandular trichomes, especially so on veins abaxially.
with 0–2 colleters on each side of petiole;
petiole 2–5 cm, hirsute with eglandular and inconspicuous glandular trichomes;
blade ovate to oval (orbiculate), 3–17 × 2–15 cm, base shallowly to deeply cordate, with 2–4 laminar colleters, apex acute to acuminate, surfaces hirsute with eglandular and inconspicuous glandular trichomes.
solitary, umbelliform, extra-axillary, sessile or subsessile, 1–2-flowered.
solitary or paired, simple to compound umbelliform, extra-axillary, pedunculate, 4–20-flowered;
peduncle 1–9.5 cm, hirsute with eglandular and inconspicuous glandular trichomes.
3–11 mm, hirsute with long eglandular and minute glandular trichomes.
3–15 mm, hirsute with eglandular and inconspicuous glandular trichomes.
calyx lobes spreading, oval to ovate, 1.8–2.5 mm, apex rounded or acute, hirsute with long eglandular and minute glandular trichomes;
corolla maroon to dark brown, not reticulate, rotate-campanulate, tube 1–1.5 mm, lobes spreading, ovate to narrowly deltate to spatulate, 3–6 mm, margins usually reflexed, pilose to hirsute adaxially;
corona united to corolla and column near base, composed of 5 united segments forming a ring at base, each with an adaxial incurved appendage arching above or incumbent on anthers, equaling or exceeding style apex, maroon to dark brown, 1–1.5 mm, glabrous;
apical anther appendages white, maroon to brown at base, broadly deltoid;
style apex rounded, flat.
calyx lobes spreading, elliptic, 1.9–3.2 mm, apex acute, hirsute with eglandular and inconspicuous glandular trichomes;
corolla white to cream, not or faintly reticulate, campanulate, tube 0.5–2 mm, lobes erect (spreading), twisted, oblong to narrowly deltate to narrowly obovate, 5–9 mm, hirtellous abaxially, glabrous adaxially;
corona of 5 united lobes with lateral, subulate lobes at apex greatly exceeding medial lobe, adaxial appendages incurved, incumbent on anthers, often concealed by erect corolla lobes, white or cream to yellow (purple), 1.5–2.5 mm, glabrous;
apical anther appendages cream, green at base, truncate;
style apex green, rounded-pentagonal, convex.
tan to light brown, oval to nearly orbicular or ovate, 8–11 × 7–10 mm, margins broadly winged, chalazal end erose, faces minutely rugose;
coma 2.5–4 cm.
brown, oval to ovate, 7–9 × 5–7 mm, margins broadly winged, chalazal end entire, faces rugose;
coma 2–4 cm.
not striate, ellipsoid to ovoid, 4.5–8.5 × 1.8–3.5 cm, apex acute, densely muricate (more than 1 protrusion per cm of length), villous to hirsute with long eglandular and minute glandular trichomes.
not striate, lance-ovoid, 9–12 × 1.7–2.5 cm, moderately muricate, minutely short-hirsute.
, herbaceous.
Matelea biflora
Matelea baldwyniana
Matelea biflora is occasionally found in grasslands and savannas of the southern Great Plains. It is most common on and around the Edwards Plateau of central Texas, where it occurs in grass-dominated habitats including disturbed areas. The range extends mostly northward and westward of that region to central Oklahoma and extreme eastern New Mexico (Lea County), where the species is much less common. Its conservation status in New Mexico merits evaluation. The plants are covered in short, glandular hairs and are malodorous when touched. The flowers occur most often in pairs, hence the common name two-flowered milkvine.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Matelea baldwyniana is most common in the southwestern portion of the Ozark uplift, from southwestern Missouri to southeastern Oklahoma. A single location in northern Texas on the Oklahoma border, on the shores of Lake Texoma (an impoundment of the Red River), is disjunct by 100 km from the nearest population in the Ouachita Mountains, and is documented only by a photograph. Furthermore, the flowers on this plant are unusual, with pinkish tinged corollas and maroon coronas unknown from other populations of M. baldwyniana. It is possible that this population represents a pale-flowered variant of M. decipiens. Matelea baldwyniana has a well-documented disjunction of 600 km across the Mississippi Valley to southwestern Alabama, where populations extend along the Gulf Coastal Plain to the Florida Panhandle. The species is uncommon in the southeastern portion of the range, where it is considered to be of conservation concern in both Alabama (Clarke, Monroe, and Wilcox counties) and Florida (Gadsden and Jackson counties). The species is not known to occur in Georgia; however, it has been reported from the state based on uncertainty regarding typification (M. Fishbein and A. McDonnell, unpubl.). The cream corollas with ascending, twisted lobes are unique among the Matelea species in the flora area but recall those of Polystemma cordifolium, a species just entering the flora area in extreme southern Arizona.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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