Climbers with slender twining stems; sap milky or watery. Leaves opposite, with minute glands at base of midvein above, petiolate. Inflorescences of simple or compound umbels (in Victoria) or short panicles beside leaf-axils. Flowers purple or red; sepals sometimes with minute glands inside at base; corolla usually rotate, lobes obtuse, spreading, contorted in bud; corona of 5 spreading, fleshy segments adnate to staminal column, lacking auricles or wings; pollinia 2 per anther, small, globose, mostly laterally placed; style head short, broad, obtuse. Follicles usually fusiform, acuminate; seeds many, with a silky coma.
Over 75 species, from Africa through tropical Asia to Australia; 12 species in Australia.
Source:
Jeanes, J.A. (1999). Asclepiadaceae. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 4, Cornaceae to Asteraceae, pp. 325–332. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
