Funastrum cynanchoides – Fringed Twinevine

Funastrum cynanchoides - Fringed Twinevine, Climbing Milkweed (purple flowers)

Funastrum cynanchoides - Fringed Twinevine, Climbing Milkweed (greenish white flowers)

Funastrum cynanchoides - Fringed Twinevine, Climbing Milkweed

Funastrum cynanchoides - Fringed Twinevine, Climbing Milkweed (fruit)

Funastrum cynanchoides - Fringed Twinevine, Climbing Milkweed (fruit follicle with seeds)

Funastrum cynanchoides - Fringed Twinevine, Climbing Milkweed

Plant Name

Scientific Name: Funastrum cynanchoides

Synonym: Sarcostemma cynanchoides

Common Names: Fringed Twinevine, Climbing Milkweed

Plant Characteristics

Duration: Perennial

Growth Habit: Vine, Herb/Forb

Arizona Native Status: Native

Habitat: Desert, Riparian (along washes in the desert)

Flower Color: Greenish white, Pale green, Pinkish, Purple

Flowering Season: Spring (late), Summer

Height: Climbing to 10 feet (3 m) tall or more

Description: The flowers are in 4 inch (10 cm) wide, axillary, umbel-like clusters. The individual flowers have the typical milkweed flower shape, 5 sepals, and 5 petals that are fringed with white hairs. The flowers are followed by elongated teardrop-shaped fruits that dry and split open to reveal brown seeds with long, silky, white hairs that help them disperse in the wind. The leaves are green, hairless, opposite, and quite variable in shape and may be narrowly to broadly lance-shaped, hastate (shaped like an arrowhead), or heart-shaped. The stems are slender, green, and twining. When damaged, the foliage exudes a milky juice.

The similar Hairy Milkweed (Funastrum hirtellum) has hairy leaves, while Wavyleaf Twinevine (Funastrum crispum) has green flowers and wavy leaves.

Special Characteristics

Foul-smelling – The foliage smells like burning rubber.

Classification

Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Asteridae
Order: Gentianales
Family: Asclepiadaceae – Milkweed family
Genus: Funastrum Fourn. – twinevine
Species: Funastrum cynanchoides (Decne.) Schltr. – fringed twinevine

More About This Plant

Arizona County Distribution Map