Revision of Gomphocarpus from Fri, 2018-10-26 08:43

Gomphocarpus R. Br.

Gomphocarpus is an African-Arabian genus with ca. 20-25 species (Goyder & Alexander 2001). It has often been included in a broadly circumscribed genus Asclepias (e.g. Knees 2000). However, molecular studies have demonstrated that Asclepias s.str. only includes species from the New World (Fishbein & al. 2011).
A single variable species, G. fruticosus (L.) R. Br. (syn.: Asclepias fruticosus L.), is sometimes grown as an ornamental (Knees 2000, Jäger & al. 2008) and has been recorded as an escape in Belgium.

References


Fishbein M., Chuba D., Ellison C., Mason-Gamer R.J. & Lynch S.P. (2011) Phylogenetic Relationships of Asclepias (Apocynaceae) Inferred from Non-coding Chloroplast DNA Sequences. Systematic Botany 36(4): 1008-1023. [available online at: https://robie.people.uic.edu/Reprints/2011_SysBot_Asclep-cpDNA.pdf]

Goyder D.J. (2001) Gomphocarpus (Apocynaceae: Asclepiadeae) in an African and a global context – an outline of the problem. Biologiske Skrifter 54: 55-62.

Goyder D.J. & Nicholas A. (2001) A revision of Gomphocarpus R. Br. (Apocynaceae: Asclepiadeae). Kew Bulletin 56: 769-836. [available online at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/A_Nicholas/publication/263523600_A_...

Jäger E.J., Ebel F., Hanelt P. & Müller G. (eds.) (2008) Rothmaler Band 5. Exkursionsflora von Deutschland. Krautige Zier- und Nutzpflanzen. Springer Verlag, Berlin: 880 p.

Knees S.G. (2000) Asclepias. In: Cullen J. & al. (eds.), The European Garden Flora, vol. 6. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 51-53.

Scratchpads developed and conceived by (alphabetical): Ed Baker, Katherine Bouton Alice Heaton Dimitris Koureas, Laurence Livermore, Dave Roberts, Simon Rycroft, Ben Scott, Vince Smith