Matelea decipiens
Matelea obliqua
climbing milkweed, Oldfield milkvine
climbing milkvine, limerock milkvine
1(–5), twining, 50–200 cm, hirsute with eglandular and inconspicuous glandular trichomes.
1(–5), twining, 100–300 cm, hirsute with eglandular and inconspicuous glandular trichomes.
with 2 colleters on each side of petiole;
petiole 1.5–9.5 cm, hirsute with eglandular and inconspicuous glandular trichomes;
blade ovate to oval to orbiculate, 4–14 × 2.5–16 cm, base shallowly to deeply cordate, with 2 laminar colleters, apex acute to acuminate, surfaces hirsute with eglandular and inconspicuous glandular trichomes.
with 2 colleters on each side of petiole;
petiole 1–7 cm, hirsute with eglandular and inconspicuous glandular trichomes;
blade ovate to oblong or elliptic (lanceolate, orbiculate), 3.5–15 × 2–13 cm, base shallowly to deeply cordate, with 2–4 laminar colleters, apex acute to acuminate, surfaces hirsute with eglandular and inconspicuous glandular trichomes.
solitary or paired, simple or compound umbelliform, extra-axillary, pedunculate, 10–40-flowered;
peduncle 1–9 cm, hirsute with eglandular and inconspicuous glandular trichomes.
solitary or paired, umbelliform (rarely compound), extra-axillary, pedunculate, 5–15(–20)-flowered;
peduncle 1–9 cm, hirsute with eglandular and inconspicuous glandular trichomes.
10–25 mm, hirsute with eglandular and inconspicuous glandular trichomes.
5–40 mm, hirsute with eglandular and inconspicuous glandular trichomes.
calyx lobes spreading, elliptic to lanceolate, 2–3.8 mm, apex acute to acuminate, hirsute with eglandular and inconspicuous glandular trichomes;
corolla pale maroon to green tinged with maroon abaxially, purple to maroon (greenish yellow or green tinged) adaxially, not reticulate, shallowly campanulate, tube 1.5–2.5 mm, lobes erect to spreading, slightly twisted, oblong, 7–18 mm, margins plane (recurved), glabrous abaxially, minutely hirtellous at base to glabrate adaxially;
corona united to column near base, usually pentagonal, of 5 united, laminar segments, each with 2 lateral lobes at apex equaling or exceeding medial lobe, forming a ring exceeded by style apex, adaxial appendages incurved, incumbent on anthers, sometimes concealed by erect corolla lobes, maroon, 0.8–2 mm, 3–4 mm diam., glabrous;
apical anther appendages bright white with pink to maroon patch at base, rhomboid;
style apex yellow-green to maroon, pentagonal, flat.
calyx lobes spreading, elliptic to ovate (narrowly deltate), 2–4.5 mm, apex acute to acuminate, hirsute with eglandular and inconspicuous glandular trichomes;
corolla pale maroon to yellowish green tinged with maroon abaxially, pink, reddish, or maroon (green, cream, or orange), with a cream to rose ring at base of corona adaxially (ring sometimes absent), not reticulate, rotate-campanulate to campanulate, tube 0.5–1.5 mm, lobes erect to spreading, twisted (coiled), oblong to linear, 8–16 mm, margins reflexed to plane, minutely hirtellous with glandular and eglandular trichomes abaxially, glabrous adaxially;
corona united to column near base, nearly circular, of 5 united, very fleshy segments, each with 2 lateral lobes at apex equaling or exceeding medial lobe, forming a sheath that equals style apex, adaxial appendages incurved, incumbent on anthers, sometimes concealed when corolla lobes erect, cream to rose to maroon, 1–2 mm, 5 mm diam., glabrous;
apical anther appendages bright white with maroon patch at base, truncate;
style apex cream to rose to maroon, pentagonal, flat.
brown, ovate, 7–8 × 5–6 mm, margins broadly winged, chalazal end entire, faces rugose;
coma 3–4.2 cm.
brown, ovate (orbicular), 7–9 × 4–6 mm, margins broadly winged, chalazal end entire, faces rugose;
coma 2.5–3.5 cm.
, herbaceous.
, herbaceous.
not striate, lance-ovoid, 8–12 × 1–2 cm, apex acuminate, moderately muricate, minutely hirsute.
not striate, lance-ovoid, 10–15 × 1.5–3 cm, apex acuminate, moderately muricate, sparsely and minutely hirsute.
Matelea decipiens
Matelea obliqua
Matelea decipiens is distributed entirely west of the Mississippi River as far as presently known. Its range extends across the Ozark Mountains to the Gulf Coastal Plain in Louisiana and eastern Texas. However, it is largely absent from the western Ozarks in southwestern Missouri and northwestern Arkansas and from the Ouachita Mountains, where it is replaced by M. baldwyniana. Matelea decipiens reappears at scattered locations west of the Ozark uplift in Oklahoma and southeastern Kansas in Neosho County. It is considered to be of conservation concern in Kansas, and its status in Oklahoma and Texas merits evaluation. There are no known sites where M. decipiens and M. baldwyniana co-occur. The flowers of M. decipiens become smaller as the range of M. hirtelliflora is approached in Texas, and they barely overlap with that species (corolla lobes 7–18 mm in M. decipiens versus 3.2–7.5 mm in M. hirtelliflora). The corollas of M. decipiens are never hirtellous adaxially, as they very often are in M. hirtelliflora. E. J. Alexander (1933) and all subsequent authors considered some populations of spinypods in the Appalachian region to belong to this species, based on large, maroon corollas with ascending lobes. Appalachian populations are considered to belong to 15. M. carolinensis, as discussed under that species.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Matelea obliqua has a wide range across the Appalachian Mountains and Cumberland and Allegheny plateaus, extending into the Ohio River Valley and upper Gulf Coastal Plain, but it is common only in a few local areas. It is most common in Kentucky and Tennessee and locally in Madison County, North Carolina. The range barely enters several states, where M. obliqua is uncommon and is (or should be) considered to be of conservation concern, especially in Alabama (Calhoun and Madison counties) and Georgia (Catoosa and Floyd counties). Records outside the documented range are based on misidentifications pertaining to M. carolinensis or M. decipiens. Typically, M. obliqua can be distinguished by reddish purple to reddish brown corollas (versus maroon to purple in those species), with long, narrow, twisted corolla lobes. The most reliable character is the thick corona ring that has a diameter greater than in any other species of the eastern United States spinypods.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
KS Wildflowers
LA Plants
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