''Periploca laevigata'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

in the 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 the Canary Islands,Manuel Arechavaleta, S. Rodríguez, Nieves Zurita, A. García (Hrsg.):
Lista de especies silvestres de Canarias. Hongos, plantas y animales terrestres
' (''List of Forest Species of the Canary Islands''). 2009. Gobierno de Canarias, p. 148 the

Savage Islands The Savage Islands or Selvagens Islands ( pt, Ilhas Selvagens ; also known as the Salvage Islands) are a small Portuguese archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean, south of Madeira, and north of the Canary Islands.30,000), white-faced storm- ...

and Cape Verde.Oromí, Martín, Zurita & Cabrera, 2005 :
Lista preliminar de especies silvestres de Cabo Verde: Hongos, Plantas y Animales Terrestres.
' Gobierno de Canarias, Consejería de Medio Ambiente y Ordenación Territorial, p. 46 The species was described by

William Aiton William Aiton (17312 February 1793) was a Scottish botanist. Aiton was born near Hamilton. Having been regularly trained to the profession of a gardener, he travelled to London in 1754, and became assistant to Philip Miller, then superinten ...

and was published in ''

Hortus Kewensis ''Hortus Kewensis, or a Catalogue of the Plants Cultivated in the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew'' by William Aiton was a 1789 catalogue of all the plant species then in cultivation at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is ...

'' in 1789. Its Spanish names are or . "Cornicabra" means goat horn.

Subspecies

*''Periploca laevigata subsp. chevalieri'' (Browicz) G. Kunkel - found in Cape Verde

Description

The plant is a shrub and can grow up to 2 metres. Its leaves are lanceolate or. Its stems grow up to 15 cm and is about 1 cm thick. Its petals are oblong at the end and has a yellowish-green colour at its ends, inside, it is brown. Its seed pods are long and pointed-like at the ends. Its chromosome number is 2n = 22.''Periploca laevigata''
Tropicos
''IPCN Chromosome Reports''
Missouri Botanical Gardens

Distribution

The plant is native to the Canary Islands,Alfred Hansen, Per Sunding: ''Flora of Macaronesia. Checklist of vascular plants (= Sommerfeltia. Band 17). 4. revised edition.'' Botanical Garden and Museum, University of Oslo, Oslo 1993, p. 34–35. the

and Cape Verde. In Cape Verde they occur on the islands of

Brava Brava or La Brava may refer to: Geography *Brava, Cape Verde, a volcanic island *Brava, Costa Rica, an island of Costa Rica (Isla Brava) *Costa Brava, a coastal area Mediterranean of northeast Spain * Barawa, a town in Somalia commonly known as ' ...

, Fogo, Santa Luzia,

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...

, Santo Antão and São Nicolau. Some authors put the Cape Verdean subspecies as separate (as ''Periploca chevalieri'', Browicz).

Gallery

File:Periploca laevigata 97E28.jpg, Flower File:Cornical (frutos).JPG, Seed pods File:Cornicabra fruto-1.jpg, Seeds

References

External links

* Periplocoideae Flora of the Canary Islands Flora of Cape Verde Flora of the Savage Islands Plants described in 1789 {{Apocynaceae-stub