Trellis-vine

Description

Pergularia daemia, the trellis-vine, is a hispid, perennial vine in the Asclepiadoideae family, with an extensive range in the Old World tropics and subtropics. It has been used traditionally to treat a number of ailments. It occurs from the Malay Peninsula to Burma, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan through Arabia and Egypt to central and southern Africa. It is found along roadsides, in woodland or along riparian forest fringes. Description The opposite and broadly ovate to suborbicular leaves are very variable in size, with petioles of varying length. The leaves are almost glabrous above and velvety below. In the northern hemisphere the flowers appear from mid to late winter, and these are carried on lateral cymes. The flower corolla forms a greenish-yellow or dull white tube. The fruit mature after some 13 to 14 months when they release ovate seeds covered with velvety hairs.