''Sarcostemma'' is a genus of

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 ...

s in the

dogbane Dogbane, dog-bane, dog's bane, and other variations, some of them regional and some transient, are names for certain plants that are reputed to kill or repel dogs; "bane" originally meant "slayer", and was later applied to plants to indicate tha ...

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 the ...

, first described as a genus in 1810. The name is derived from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

words σαρκὸς (''sarkos''), meaning "flesh," and στέμμα (''stemma''), meaning "garland". Members of the genus are known generally as climbing milkweeds or caustic bushes. They are found across

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) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and

tropical Asia Tropical Asia refers to the entirety of the areas in Asia with a tropical climate. These areas are of geographic and economic importance due to their natural resources and biodiversity, which include many species of agricultural value. There are ...

, in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, and in parts of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. These plants are perennial flowering

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

s with trailing

vine A vine (Latin ''vīnea'' "grapevine", "vineyard", from ''vīnum'' "wine") is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselv ...

s or

liana A liana is a long- stemmed, woody vine that is rooted in the soil at ground level and uses trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the canopy in search of direct sunlight. The word ''liana'' does not refer to a ta ...

s. They are often adapted to heat and/or

desert A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...

conditions. Some have few or no leaves and photosynthesize in the tissues of the green stems. The soft stems are filled with a milky white

latex Latex is an emulsion (stable dispersion) of polymer microparticles in water. Latexes are found in nature, but synthetic latexes are common as well. In nature, latex is found as a milky fluid found in 10% of all flowering plants (angiosperms ...

that is poisonous and

caustic Caustic most commonly refers to: * Causticity, a property of various corrosive substances ** Sodium hydroxide, sometimes called ''caustic soda'' ** Potassium hydroxide, sometimes called ''caustic potash'' ** Calcium oxide, sometimes called ''caus ...

in some species. The flowers have a ring of thick tissue at the base which extends into hollow spherical appendages within the flower corolla.

Taxonomy

The taxonomic status of this genus is contested. The genus ''Sarcostemma'' has been shown to be nested within the genus ''

Cynanchum ''Cynanchum'' is a genus of about 300 species including some swallowworts, belonging to the family Apocynaceae. The taxon name comes from Greek ''kynos'' (meaning "dog") and ''anchein'' ("to choke"), hence the common name for several species is d ...

'', and in 2012 ''Sarcostemma'' was put into synonymy with ''Cynanchum''.Goyder, D.J 2008 Nomenclatural changes resulting from the transfer of tropical African ''Sarcostemma'' to ''Cynanchum'' (Apocynaceae: Asclepiadoideae) Kew Bulletin 63:3Ulrich Meve, Sigrid Liede-Schumann 2012. Taxonomic dissolution of ''Sarcostemma'' (Apocynaceae: Asclepiadoideae). Kew Bulletin 67:4 Thus ''Sarcostemma viminale'' has been renamed ''Cynanchum viminale''. However this change has not been accepted by all taxonomists and the name ''Sarcostemma'' remains in use by a minority.Schmelzer, G. H. ; Gurib-Fakim, A. ; Arroo, R. R. J. ; Bosch, C. H. ; de Ruijter, A. ; Simmonds, M. S. J. 2008 “Plant Resources of Tropical Africa, Volume 11: Medicinal Plants 1” Backhuys Publishers, Wageningen, Netherlands. ;SpeciesThe Plant List, ''Sarcostemma''
/ref> ;Formerly included moved to other genera ''(

, Funastrum, Leptadenia, Philibertia, Tetraphysa)''

References

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment''Sarcostemma'' in Australia
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1117141 Asclepiadoideae Apocynaceae genera Taxonomy articles created by Polbot