Asclepiadoideae (asclepiads)

Subfamily: Asclepiadoideae (asclepiads)

Life > eukaryotes > Archaeoplastida > Chloroplastida > Charophyta > Streptophytina > Plantae (land plants) > Tracheophyta (vascular plants) > Euphyllophyta > Lignophyta (woody plants) > Spermatophyta (seed plants) > Angiospermae (flowering plants) > Eudicotyledons > Core Eudicots > Asterids > Euasterid I > Order: Gentianales > Family: Apocynaceae

This subfamily used to be in a separate family, the Asclepiadaceae.

Genera native or naturalised (*) in southern Africa

List from Victor et al. 2000.

Anisotoma The 2 species are endemic to southern Africa (KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape).
Araujia The 5 species (all climbers) are native to South America. Araujia sericifera has become naturalised in southern Africa and is a declared Category 1 invasive plant in South Africa.
Asclepias About 150 species, native to Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and America, with about 50 species occurring in southern Africa.
Aspidoglossum About 34 species, native to Africa, with 22 species occurring in southern Africa.
Aspidonepsis The 5 species are endemic to the high altitude mountain grasslands of southern Africa.
Astephanus About 30 species, native to Africa and America, with 2 species occurring in southern Africa.
Brachystelma About 100 species, native to Africa and India to Australia. There are about 80 species found in southern Africa.
Calotropis The 3 species are native to tropical and subtropical Africa and Asia. One species, Calotropis procera, has become naturalised in southern Africa.
Caralluma One species: Caralluma peschii, endemic to Namibia.
Ceropegia Over 160 species, native to Africa and Madagascar to Australia, with more than 50 species in southern Africa.
Cordylogyne One species: Cordylogyne globosa, occurring mainly in moist high grasslands of southern Africa.
Cynanchum About 100 species, found worldwide, with 12 species native to southern Africa.
Duvalia The 17 species are found in Africa and 13 of them occur in southern Africa.
Emplectanthus The 2 species are endemic to KwaZulu-Natal.
Eustegia One species, endemic to Northern and Western Cape.
Fanninia One species: Fanninia caloglossa, endemic to KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape.
Fockea The 6 species occur in tropical and southern Africa
Gomphocarpus About 50 species, native to Africa and Asia, with 10 species occurring in southern Africa.
Hoodia The 13 species are native to Africa, nearly all of which (12) occur in southern Africa.
Huernia About 64 species, native to Africa and Arabian Peninsula, with 39 species in southern Africa.
Kanahia The 4 species are native to Africa and the Arabian Peninsula
Lavrania The 5 species are endemic to Namibia and the Northern Cape in the very arid western parts.
Macropetalum One species: Macropetalum burchellii, native to southern Africa.
Marsdenia Over 300 species, widely distributed, with 3 species native to southern Africa.
Microloma The 11 species are endemic to southern Africa.
Miraglossum The 7 species are endemic to the eastern parts of southern Africa.
Notechidnopsis The 2 species are endemic to Namaqualand (Northern and Western Cape).
Oncinema One species: Oncinema lineare, endemic to the Western and Eastern Cape.
Ophionella One species: Ophionella arcuata, endemic to the Eastern Cape (Willowmore to Addo).
Orbea Of the 20 species, 18 occur in southern Africa.
Orbeanthus The 2 species are endemic to the Northern Cape.
Orbeopsis The 10 species are native to Angola and southern Africa, with 9 of them occurring in southern Africa (Namibia and Botswana).
Orthanthera The 4 species are native to Africa and India, with 2 of them occurring in southern Africa.
Pachycarpus About 30 species, native to Africa, with 27 species found in southern Africa, in high altitude grasslands.
Pachycymbium The 2 species are endemic to southern Africa.
Parapodium The 3 species are endemic to southern Africa.
Pectinaria The 3 species are endemic to the Northern and Western Cape.
Pentarrhinum The 3 species are found in Africa, with 2 of them native to southern Africa.
Pergularia The 5 species are native from Africa to India, and Madagascar. Pergularia daemia is the only species in southern Africa.
Periglossum The 4 species are native to Africa with all of them occurring in southern Africa.
Piaranthus The 6 species are all native to southern Africa.
Quaqua The 19 species are all native to southern Africa.
Rhyssolobium One species: Rhyssolobium dumosum, endemic to the very arid coastal regions of Namibia and the Northern Cape, where fog occurs.
Riocreuxia The 10 species are all native to Africa except for one that occurs in India. Seven species are found in southern Africa.
Sarcostemma The 10 species occur in arid regions of the Old World, with 1 species found in southern Africa.
Schizoglossum About 80 species, native to Africa, with 27 species found in southern Africa (mainly grasslands).
Sisyranthus The 13 species are native to tropical and southern Africa, found in grasslands [how many of them in southern Africa?].
Sphaerocodon The 2 species are native to Africa and both of them occur in southern Africa.
Stapelia The 43 species are native to Africa, mainly in southern Africa [how many species?].
Stapeliopsis The 6 species are endemic to southern Africa.
Stathmostelma The 13 species are native to eastern tropical Africa, with 1 of them, Stathmostelma fornicatum, found in southern Africa (in Botswana).
Stenostelma The 2 species are endemic to southern Africa.
Stigmatorhynchus The 3 species are native to Africa, with 1 of them, Stigmatorhynchus hereroensis, found in southern Africa (Namibia).
Tavaresia The 2 species are native to Africa, with 1 of them, Tavaresia barklyi, occurring in southern Africa.
Telosma The 10 species are native from Africa to Malaya, with one of them, Telosma africana, occurring in southern Africa.
Tenaris The seven species are native to Africa and 4 of them are found in southern Africa.
Tridentea The 8 species are endemic to southern Africa.
Tromotriche The 11 species are endemic to the winter rainfall region of southern Africa, extending from south west Namibia round to the Eastern Cape
Tylophora The 50 species are native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Old World, with 10 species found in southern Africa.
Woodia The 3 species are endemic to southern Africa.
Xysmalobium About 40 species, native to Africa, with 21 of them found in southern Africa.

Publications

Victor, J.E., Bredenkamp, C.L., Venter, H.J.T., Bruyns, P.V. & Nicholas, A. 2000. Apocynaceae. In: Seed Plants of Southern Africa (ed. O.A. Leistner). Strelitzia 10: 71-98.. National Botanical Institute, Pretoria.