Cyphia sylvatica

Cyphia sylvatica
Conservation status
Least Concern  (SANBI Red List) [1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Asterales
Family:	Campanulaceae
Genus:	Cyphia
Species:	C. sylvatica
Binomial name
Cyphia sylvatica Eckl. & Zeyh.

Cyphia sylvatica is a species of flowering plant in the genus Cyphia, endemic to the Western Cape.

Description

Cyphia sylvatica is a twining climber, with an underground tuber.

The leaves have a short (2-6 mm) petiole and sometimes appear almost sessile. The leaves are entire (not divided), with a linear to elongated lanceolate shape. The leaf-tips are acute. The leaf bases gradually narrow into the short petiole. The leaf margins are often denticulate (rarely with two tiny spur-like lobes at the base). At the base of the stems, near the ground, there are sometimes much broader leaves.

The flower shape is bilabiate, with the corolla tube divided entirely into two (three petals curved upwards, two down). The stamens are 6-7mm long. The flower colour is white to a pale purple/mauve. ^{[2] [3]}

It is closely related to, and often confused with, other southern Cape species such as Cyphia volubilis and Cyphia digitata .

References

1. https://redlist.sanbi.org/species.php?species=1717-4011
2. Phillips, E.P. (1917). A revision of the South African material of the genus Cyphia Berg. Annals of the South African Museum 9:449-474.
3. Wimmer, F.E. (1968). Lobelioideae Supplementum et Campanulaceae - Cyphioideae. In: S. Danert (ed). Das Pflanzenreich 108:53-1024. Akademie Verlag, Berlin.