Matelea biflora
Matelea floridana
star milkvine, two flower matelea, two-flower milkvine
Florida milkvine, Florida milkvine or spinypod
4–10, decumbent, often branched near base, 7–40 cm, hirsute with long eglandular and minute glandular trichomes.
1–5, twining, 100–500 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 2 colleters on each side of petiole;
petiole 1–6 cm, hirsute with eglandular and inconspicuous glandular trichomes;
blade narrowly ovate, oblong, or elliptic (ovate or cordate), 3.5–11 × 2–12 cm, base shallowly to deeply cordate, with 2–6 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, racemiform (umbelliform), extra-axillary, pedunculate, 3–10-flowered;
peduncle 0.3–1(–5) cm, hirsute with eglandular and inconspicuous glandular trichomes.
3–11 mm, hirsute with long eglandular and minute glandular trichomes.
5–15 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 to ovate, 1–2.5 mm, apex acute to acuminate, hirsute with eglandular and inconspicuous glandular trichomes;
corolla pale yellow to green abaxially (maroon or maroon tinged), maroon to brown to purple (green to yellow, sometimes maroon tinged), with a cream to yellow ring at base of corona adaxially, faintly reticulate, rotate-campanulate, tube 1–1.5 mm, lobes spreading, margins plane, lanceolate to oblong, 3–7 mm, minutely hirtellous abaxially, glabrous adaxially;
corona united to column near base, of 5 united, fleshy segments, each with 2 small lateral lobes at apex, shorter than medial lobe, forming a lobed sheath that equals style apex, adaxial appendages incurved, incumbent on anthers, dark maroon, 1.5–2 mm, glabrous;
apical anther appendages bright white with maroon patch at base, truncate;
style apex yellow to yellow-green, maroon tinged in center, pentagonal, flat.
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, ovate (orbicular), 7–8 × 5–6 mm, margins broadly winged, chalazal end entire, faces rugose;
coma 1.5–2.2 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 to ellipsoid, 7.5–11 × 1–2.5 cm, apex acuminate, sparsely to moderately muricate, sparsely and minutely hirsute.
, herbaceous.
Matelea biflora
Matelea floridana
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 floridana is known primarily from northern peninsular Florida. Widely disjunct populations in Hendry and Miami-Dade counties are documented only by vegetative specimens that cannot be identified with any confidence; however, other than the highly dissimilar, decumbent M. pubiflora, no other Matelea occurs in peninsular Florida. A smaller disjunction is represented by an apparent gap in the distribution between Suwannee County and the Panhandle. Although widely distributed in the state, its occurrences in Florida are scattered, and M. floridana is considered state-endangered. The occurrence of M. floridana in Georgia is confirmed at a single location in Thomas County, but it has been reported from two other counties in the southwestern corner of the state. Specimens of M. floridana have been identified as M. carolinensis; however, that species is not known from Florida and differs by corona segments with the medial lobe shorter than the lateral lobes and more rounded corolla lobes (compared to the medial corona lobe much longer than the lateral lobes and acute to obtuse corolla lobes in M. floridana).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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