Cardiochlamys
Accepted name/Authority/Place of publication:
CARDIOCHLAMYS D. Oliver in Hook., Icon. Pl. 15: 2. Plate 1403. (1883).
Tribe:
Cardiochlamyeae
Type Species:
CARDIOCHLAMYS D. Oliver in Hook., Icon. Pl. 15: 2. Plate 1403. (1883).
Habit:
Woody liana; stems slender, pubescent, more so on young parts.
Leaves:
Simple, petiolate, blade entire, base cordate, apex acuminate.
Inflorescences:
Axillary, cymose, many-flowered, long-pedunculate; bracts foliaceousm the 3 uppermost subequal, ovate.
Flowers:
Sepals 5, unequal, in bud quincuncial, outer 3 larger, ovate-acuminate, very accrescent; inner 2 scale-like, not enlarging. Corolla in bud aestivation induplicate-valvate, funnelform, limb white, deeply lobed, lobes ovate-acute; midpetaline bands pilose outside, more so on their upper part; stamens and style exserted; filaments inserted at corolla tube base, equal or not, anthers sagittate or oblong; ovary glabrous, ovoid, borne on a columnar gynophore, cells each containing 2 ovules; style simple, flexuous; stigma simple; disc [torique plaqué] on the gynophore.
Pollen:
Pantoporate, smooth.
Fruits:
Capsule ovoid, stipitate, glabrous, apiculate, enclosed in the 3 outer sepals forming a lantern, pericarp dehiscent in 2 valves.
Seeds:
1, glabrous, albuminous; cotyledons broad, foliaceous, plicate; radical a little longer, cylindrical, plicate.
Distribution:
Madagascar. map
Countries:
Madagascar
Number of Species:
2
Infrageneric Characters:
Stems pilose to glabrous; inflorescence ordinarily not more than 10 cm long; lower bracts foliaceous; corolla often more than 10 mm long; ovary disc [torique] C. madagascariensis
Stems very pubescent; inflorescence often longer than 10 cm; lower bracts caduceus; corolla about 10 mm long; ovary disc cupuliforme C. velutina
References:
Verdcourt, B. 1971. The genus Cardiochlamys Oliv.(Convolvulaceae). Kew Bulletin 26: 137-140.
Contributors:
Well characterised by its gynoecium and fruit, apparently convergent with the Indochinese genus Cordisepalum Verdc. The pollen difference between the 2 genera is distinctive.