Vincetoxicum rossicum | |
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Gentianales |
Family: | Apocynaceae |
Genus: | Vincetoxicum |
Species: | V. rossicum |
Binomial name | |
Vincetoxicum rossicum (Kleopow) Barbar. | |
Synonyms [1] | |
Cynanchum rossicum(Kleopow) Borhidi |
Vincetoxicum rossicum is a flowering plant in the family Apocynaceae. It is a perennial herb native to southern Europe and is a highly invasive plant growing in all of the Eastern United States, in the mid west, and southern Ontario and Quebec in Canada. It has several common names including swallowwort, pale swallowwort, and dog-strangling vine; though it does not actually strangle dogs, it can “strangle” native plants and small trees if it is in dense patches. [2] There has historically been much confusion about the genus it belongs to, with authors placing it within Vincetoxicum and others within Cynanchum, but recent molecular and chemical analyses have shown it to belong in the genus Vincetoxicum. [3] [4] [5]
The leaves of the pale swallowwort are larger when they are closer to the stem and decrease in size as they move away from the stem. [6] They are in the shape of an ellipse or an oval and contain smooth margins and major veins underneath. [6] The glossy, dark green leaves grow opposite on the stem and are ovate to elliptical. The flowers appear near the top of the plant and grow on stalks that come from the leaf axils.
The buds of the flowers have a pointed apex and are ovoid to conoidal. Also, petals that are unopened are twisted. The diameter of the flowers is 5–7 mm and they are 5-parted. [6] Some of the petals are 3–5 mm in long and do not have hair. The margins of the petals are 0.05–0.15 mm wide and they are typically translucent. [6] The 5-lobed corona is typically pink, red-brown or maroon, which is the same color as the corolla. [6] The corona is sometimes seen as a lighter pink, orange or yellow. [6] The fruits of the Vincetoxicum rossicum are 4–7 cm long and each flower typically contains two fruits. The seeds of the fruit are oblong and are either concaved or flattened on one side and convex on the other side. [6] The seed color varies from light to dark brown. [6] Each stalk has 5 to 20 flowers. The flowers are dark purple or dark brown.
It is a twining vine that grows to heights of 60–200 cm (2.0–6.6 ft). The roots of the pale swallowwort are thick. The rootstalk makes a rhizome shape with its roots. Stems are found intertwined in dense patches of plants. [6] They will grow onto other plants when they are alone in order to have structural support. [6] After a year of growth, the stem turns light brown and resembles a decaying stem and stops growing.
Vincetoxicum rossicum reproduces by spreading its seeds through wind dispersal and through vegetative production. Since it is multiembryonic, it allows the seeds to cover more ground and allows the pale swallowwort to have a high reproductive rate. [1] Intermediate light is the best light source for the pale swallowwort to reproduce and grow. [1] Though that light is not necessarily required, it does produce the best outcome. Typically this invasive species is found in dense vegetation, which allows it to rapidly grow with its multiembryonic seeds. Since this invasive species is a vine, it grows best when it attaches to other plants and uses it as a support beam. [1]
These seeds are polyembryonic and typically contain two embryos but there have been observations of up to eight embryos. When there are multiple embryos released into an environment, they have a greater chance of surviving when damage is done to the environment. [7] This makes the survival rate of the pale swallowwort to be very high and in there lies the problem as to why this invasive species is problematic. [6]
Vincetoxicum rossicum can tolerate drought conditions with low soil moisture by allocating a high proportion of its resources to belowground biomass in the form of its roots.V. rossicum employ a sit-and-wait strategy in which it will reallocate the resources invested into the roots once drought conditions subside and environmental conditions become more favourable. [8]
Vincetoxicum rossicum is native to Ukraine and southwestern European Russia and was introduced as an ornamental plant in North America, where it is considered invasive, particularly in the Great Lakes Basin. [9] It is commonly found along with poison ivy plants. [1]
Vincetoxicum rossicum is a highly invasive plant growing in all of the Eastern United States, and commonly found in the mid west. It is invading environments in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, and New York. [10] In Canada, it is found in Southern Ontario and Quebec. [11] It has been reported in British Columbia but is not currently known to be present there. [12] There are currently no control methods that stop Vincetoxicum rossicum from spreading. In Canada, the release of a moth, Hypena opulenta , which feeds exclusively on Vincetoxicum spp., was authorized in 2013. [13]
It is of particular concern in the Great Lakes Basin where it is disturbing native birds and plants. [14] It is also a threat to some butterflies, especially the Monarch, because it interferes with the native hosts and acts as an ecological "sink". [15] [16] If the native plants are replaced by Vincetoxicum rossicum, it may affect the butterflies and other insects that use those plants as hosts, including the endangered migratory monarch butterfly. [9]
Apocynaceae 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 family are native to the European, Asian, African, Australian, and American tropics or subtropics, with some temperate members. The former family Asclepiadaceae is considered a subfamily of Apocynaceae and contains 348 genera. A list of Apocynaceae genera may be found here.
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.
Stapeliinae is a subtribe of flowering plants within the tribe Ceropegieae of the subfamily Asclepiadoideae of the family Apocynaceae. The subtribe comprises about 35 genera, including both the stem-succulent "stapeliads" and the horticulturally popular genera Brachystelma and Ceropegia. The largest number of genera are native to Africa, but a more limited number of genera are widespread in Arabia and Asia. Historically, a similarly circumscribed taxon was treated as a separate tribe, Stapelieae.
Cynanchum is a genus of about 300 species including some swallowworts, belonging to the family Apocynaceae. The taxon name comes from Greek kynos and anchein, hence the common name for several species is dog-strangling vine. Most species are non-succulent climbers or twiners. There is some evidence of toxicity.
Swallowwort or swallow-wort is a common name for several plants and plant families. The term may be a description of poisonous effects, or indicate that a plant was formerly used medicinally for tonsillitis.
Vincetoxicum is a genus of plants in the family Apocynaceae. Although the species in Vincetoxicum have sometimes been included in Cynanchum, chemical and molecular evidence shows that Vincetoxicum is more closely related to Tylophora, now included in Vincetoxicum. The generic name means "poison-beater" in Botanical Latin because of the plants' supposed antidotal effects against snakebite.
Funastrum utahense, synonym Cynanchum utahense, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Funastrum of the family Apocynaceae, known by the common names Utah swallow-wort and Utah vine milkweed. This relatively uncommon perennial vine is native to the Mojave Desert from California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona in the United States. This is a small vine with a highly branched, twining stem rarely exceeding a meter in length with which it physically supports itself on other shrubs and trees. It has small narrow leaves a few centimeters long. Its flowers are bright yellow to orange and grow in umbels. The fruit is a grooved follicle several centimeters long.
Vincetoxicum hirundinaria, commonly named white swallow-wort, is a long-lived herbaceous perennial of the genus Vincetoxicum in the family Apocynaceae.
Vincetoxicum nigrum, a species in the family Apocynaceae, also known as black swallow-wort, Louise's swallow-wort, or black dog-strangling vine, is a species of plant that is native to Europe and is found primarily in Italy, France, Portugal, and Spain. It is an invasive plant species in the northeastern United States, parts of the Midwest, southeastern Canada, and California. In 2020, wild plants were found in Timaru, New Zealand.
Cynanchum laeve is a vining perennial herb native to eastern and central U.S. states and Ontario. Common names include sand vine, honeyvine, honeyvine milkweed, bluevine milkweed, climbing milkweed, and smooth swallow-wort. The root system of C. laeve can cause it to be very difficult to eradicate, especially in agricultural fields. It is a larval food of monarch butterflies and milkweed tussock moth larvae. C. laeve can cause eye irritation if touched and can be toxic to humans and livestock if consumed in large quantities.
Edithcolea is a monotypic genus with a single species Edithcolea grandis. Once classified in the family Asclepiadaceae, it is now in the subfamily Asclepiadoideae of the dogbane family Apocynaceae. It is native to eastern Africa and to the Arabian Peninsula.
Cynanchum viminale is a leafless succulent plant in the family Apocynaceae. The species is native to West Africa, the Indian Ocean and Western Pacific region. The species' natural range extends from South Africa throughout much of Africa and the Middle East to India, Indochina, Southern China, Indomalaya and into Meganesia. The species is also found on several Indian Oceans islands including Mauritius, Réunion and the Seychelles.
Vincetoxicum barbatum, synonym Tylophora barbata, the bearded tylophora, is a small vine in the dogbane family. A common plant found south of Bulahdelah, New South Wales. The habitat is rainforest and moist eucalyptus forests in south eastern Australia. Not often seen in flower, but flowers are dark red, around 7 mm long on thin stalks. Broken branches produce watery or milky sap.
Native to the Isalo sandstone mountains of Madagascar, Cynanchum macrolobum is a small succulent shrub belonging to the subfamily Asclepiadoideae of the family Apocynaceae.
Pentatropis is a genus of plants in the family Apocynaceae, first described as a genus in 1834. It is native to Africa and southern Asia.
Vincetoxicum lineare is a species of plant in the family Apocynaceae native to Australia. Known as the bush bean, it is an edible species of plant found in arid regions. As Rhyncharrhena linearis, the species was at one time the only species in the monotypic genus Rhyncharrhena.
Funastrum angustifolium is a plant species. Commonly known as the Gulf coast swallow-wort, it is a perennial dicot that grows in the southern United States as far west as Texas. It is in the Cynanchum genus and Apocynaceae family. A flowering vine, it produces white blossoms with greenish and yellow parts. A member of the milkweed family, it is a plant host for monarch butterflies and produces wind dispersed seed pods.
Vincetoxicum rupicola is a species of plant in the dogbane family Apocynaceae that is endemic to Queensland, Australia. It was first described by Paul Irwin Forster in 1992 as Tylophora rupicola.
Vincetoxicum forsteri is a species of plant in the dogbane family Apocynaceaethat is endemic to Australia. It was first described by Paul Irwin Forster in 1992 as Tylophora linearis.
Ceropegia ampliata is a flowering plant in the dogbane family Apocynaceae, native to eastern and southern Africa, including Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa, Eswatini, Botswana, and Madagascar. Common names include bushman's pipe, condom plant, and horny wonder.