Cyphia volubilis

Cyphia volubilis
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. volubilis
Binomial name
Cyphia volubilis (Burm.f.) Willd.

Cyphia volubilis is a species of flowering plant in the genus Cyphia, endemic to the Western Cape. ^[1] It is a type of Fynbos climbing plant that uses a host to get its own flowers above ground. ^[2] It has a bilabiate corolla; with 3 lobes on top and 2 at the bottom. ^[2]

Description

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

The leaves are simple, linear, entire, and often densely denticulate. The bracts can resemble leaves; they are entire or with a protruding or lobed tooth on both sides at the base (rarely they can appear 3-lobed).

The flower shape is bilabiate, with the corolla tube divided entirely into two (three petals curved upwards, two down). This species has very short stamens, 3-4mm long (only a quarter to a third of the length of the corolla). The flower colour is white or a pale grey-purple-ish colour. There are usually some tiny purple spots on the inside of the petals, deep inside the flower. ^{[3] [4]}

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

References

1. "Threatened Species Programme | SANBI Red List of South African Plants". redlist.sanbi.org. Archived from the original on 2019-07-30. Retrieved 2022-04-11.
2. "Cyphia volubilis - Climbers in the Fynbos". Phillipskop Mountain Reserve. 2016-09-14. Archived from the original on 2019-02-15. Retrieved 2022-04-11.
3. 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.
4. Wimmer, F.E. (1968). Lobelioideae Supplementum et Campanulaceae - Cyphioideae. In: S. Danert (ed). Das Pflanzenreich 108:53-1024. Akademie Verlag, Berlin.