Synonyms: Stephanotis APNI*
Gymnema APNI*
Leichhardtia APNI*
Thozetia APNI*
Description: Climbers with twining stems or occasionally erect shrubs, latex milky or rarely watery.
Leaves with a cluster of minute glands at base of lamina.
Flowers mostly white or yellow, in simple or compound umbels beside leaf axils. Calyx segments 5, mostly with minute glands within at the base. Corolla rotate to urceolate, lobes contorted in bud. Corona of 5 thin expanded segments each with a free upper part and a lower part fused to staminal column, lower part sometimes with a wing or with 2 basal auricles; pollinia 2 per anther, oblong or obovoid, erect.
Follicles turgid, ovoid, fusiform or rarely orbicular; seeds with a silky coma.
Distribution and occurrence: World: c. 60 species, tropical & subtropical regions. Australia: c. 20 species (c. 18 species endemic), Qld, N.S.W., Vic., N.T., Vic.
Text by G. J. Harden & J. B. Williams
Taxon concept:
Taxa not yet included in identification key
Marsdenia tubulosa
| | Key to the species | |
| 1 | Corona absent | 2 |
| Corona present | 3 |
| 2 | Stems and leaves with rusty to fawn hairs; latex white; flowers cream to pale yellow, 4–5 mm diameter | Marsdenia pleiadenia |
| Stems and leaves with colourless hairs; latex clear to green; flowers red to deep purple or pale pink-cream, 20–25 mm diameter
Back to 1 | Marsdenia hemiptera |
| 3 | Leaves with lamina lanceolate to ovate or circular, less than 5 times as long as broad; coastal or eastern escarpment species | 4 |
| Leaves with lamina linear or narrow-lanceolate, 6–15 times as long as broad; Western Slopes and plains, one extending to central coast
Back to 1 | 10 |
| 4 | Lower surface of leaves softly and densely pubescent; inflorescences open lateral panicles of 2–6 umbels | Marsdenia flavescens |
| Lower surface of leaves glabrous or slightly hairy, not softly pubescent; inflorescences simple lateral umbels beside leaf axils
Back to 3 | 5 |
| 5 | Flowers 20–40 mm diam., corolla lobes 9–17 mm long | Marsdenia liisae |
| Flowers less than 15 mm diam., corolla lobes less than 7 mm long
Back to 4 | 6 |
| 6 | Corolla glabrous inside, latex clear, watery | Marsdenia longiloba |
| Corolla with a ring or tufts of hairs at throat, lobes hairy or glabrous; latex opaque, milky
Back to 5 | 7 |
| 7 | Stems with a soft, whitish, fissured corky covering, even on stems just below leafy portion, as small as 3–5 mm diam.; leaves mostly streaked whitish along main veins (on lower surface), often sparsely hairy on lower surface,occasionally sparsely hairy on upper surface; corolla throat densely bearded, hairs obscuring column | Marsdenia lloydii |
| Stems not whitish corky; young stems smooth, thick old stems sometimes brown-corky; leaves glabrous, lacking pale streaks along veins; hairs in corolla throat not obscuring column
Back to 6 | 8 |
| 8 | Petioles 1–12 mm long; leaves with lamina lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, 2.5–5 times as long as broad, 2–3 cm long, 0.6–2.5 cm wide, margins recurved; reticulum invisible, main lateral veins faint or obscure; style head short, covered by anthers or slightly longer | 9 |
| Petioles 15–40 mm long; leaves with lamina oblong-elliptic to broad-ovate, 1.2–3 times as long as broad, 4–13 cm long, 2–7 cm wide, margins flat, coarser reticulum distinct on lower surface; style head much longer than the anthers
Back to 7 | Marsdenia rostrata |
| 9 | Petioles 1–3.5 mm long, finely hairy; stems shortly hairy; south from Port Macquarie area | Marsdenia suaveolens |
| Petioles 4–12 mm long, glabrous, stems glabrous; north from Kempsey area
Back to 8 | Marsdenia fraseri |
| 10 | Corolla with spreading lobes, throat with a thickened fleshy ring or 5 hair tufts inside; flowers ca 2–3.5 mm long; leaves and stems finely and shortly pubescent or glabresent with age | Marsdenia viridiflora |
| Corolla with erect or incurved lobes, the throat glabrous inside and without a fleshy ring; flowers c. 4.5–6 mm long; leaves and stems mostly finely pubescent
Back to 3 | Marsdenia australis |
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