''Fockea multiflora'', or python vine, is a plant of the dogbane family,

Apocynaceae Apocynaceae (from ''Apocynum'', Greek for "dog-away") is a family of flowering plants that includes trees, shrubs, herbs, stem succulents, and vines, commonly known as the dogbane family, because some taxa were used as dog poison Members of ...

, native to

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalaha ...

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

, including the

Caprivi Strip The Caprivi Strip, also known simply as Caprivi, is a geographic salient protruding from the northeastern corner of Namibia. It is surrounded by Botswana to the south and Angola and Zambia to the north. Namibia, Botswana and Zambia meet at a s ...

, and

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeas ...

. It is a large semisucculent liana, growing to some 15m in length and up to 60 cm in diameter, found primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome.

Taxonomy

The genus ''

Fockea ''Fockea'' is a genus of succulent scrubs native to southern Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) ...

'' comprises six species belonging to the

Asclepiadoideae The Asclepiadoideae are a subfamily of plants in the family Apocynaceae. Formerly, they were treated as a separate family under the name Asclepiadaceae, e.g. by APG II, and known as the milkweed family. They form a group of perennial herbs, twi ...

(milkweeds) subfamily of the

family. Massive specimens of ''F. multiflora'' are probably the largest known members of this subfamily. All six ''Fockea'' species occur south of the equator in Africa, with ''F. multiflora'' the second most widely distributed, after ''F. angustifolia''. Unlike the other five ''Fockea'' species, all of which are relatively small climbers with swollen, mostly subterranean

tubers Tubers are a type of enlarged structure used as storage organs for nutrients in some plants. They are used for the plant's perennation (survival of the winter or dry months), to provide energy and nutrients for regrowth during the next growing s ...

, ''F. multiflora'' is a massive, tropical liana without a tuber, It is considered a

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a family, familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to r ...

to the other five species.

Description

''Fockea multiflora'' is a large climber up to 15 m, with a thick, fleshy trunk up to 30 cm thick, swollen toward the base but lacking a distinct basal tuber. In mature plants the rootstock consists of a network of fleshy roots radiating from the base of the stem. By comparison, in the other five ''Fockea'' species, stems arise from a tuber that is much broader than the main stem. ''F. multiflora'' is rarely shrub-like; rather, its stems sprawl on the ground or twist around surrounding trees as massive lianas, appearing to strangle them, although there’s no evidence that the supporting trees are harmed. The stems produces a white, milky latex. Young stems are tomentose (covered with densely matted wooly hairs), later becoming covered with grey, shiny bark. Leaves are opposite, broadly elliptic to ovate, large (100mm x 80mm), with grey-felted undersides, felty to smooth above. These leaves, as well as the fruits and seeds, are much larger than for other ''Fockea'' species.

Inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

is a many-flowered axillary cluster of as many as 30 flowers approximately 15mm in diameter, grayish-green on the outside and yellow-green to brown on the inside, with flowers opening simultaneously or in rapid succession. The fruits are smooth, paired and horn-shaped, 10–22 cm × 1.5–3 cm, dehiscing to release multiple winged seeds; seeds are ovate and flattened, 10 mm × 7–8 mm, shortly winged.http://database.prota.org/PROTAhtml/Fockea%20multiflora_En.htm

Ecology

Growing in the altitude range of 600-1000 m, ''Fockea multiflora'' occurs on low hills or among rocks around the base of hills in dry, open, often deciduous woodland or scrub, especially mixed '' Acacia''-''

Commiphora The genus of the myrrhs, ''Commiphora'', is the most species-rich genus of flowering plants in the frankincense and myrrh family, Burseraceae. The genus contains approximately 190 species of shrubs and trees, which are distributed throughout the ...

''-'' Balanites'' or

mopane ''Colophospermum mopane'', commonly called mopane, mopani, balsam tree, butterfly tree, or turpentine tree, is a tree in the legume family (Fabaceae), that grows in hot, dry, low-lying areas, in elevation, in the far northern parts of southern A ...

woodland. It does not tend to occur in more mesic

miombo The Miombo woodland is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome (in the World Wide Fund for Nature scheme) located primarily in Central Africa. It includes four woodland savanna ecoregions (listed below) characterized b ...

woodland dominated by ''

Brachystegia ''Brachystegia'' is a genus of tree of the subfamily Detarioideae that is native to tropical Africa. Trees of the genus are commonly known as miombo, and are dominant in the miombo woodlands of central and southern tropical Africa. The Zambezi ...

''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15398617 multiflora Flora of Botswana Flora of the Caprivi Strip Flora of Namibia Flora of South Tropical Africa Flora of Tanzania