MATELEA CONGESTIFLORA

This member of the Asclepiadaceae* family was given this name by Robert Everard Woodson, Jr in 1941. It is found in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Venezuela, growing in a well drained soil with some water and lots of sun. The caudex can grow to eight centimetres in diameter, the entire plant to three metres in height. The flowers are from greenish over orange to brownish.

The genera name might be a local or an old name. It was introduced by Jean Baptiste Christophe Fusée Aublet in Histoire des Plantes de la Guiane Françoise 1: 277–280, pl. 109. 1775, but I fail to find any explanation to the name (but it is in French!).

The species name from Latin; congestus; 'crowded, pressed' and flora; flower. *)Accordantly to the latest taxonomic system; APG IV 2016, Asclepiadaceae is now part of the Apocynaceae. The exposed caudex from Tropiflora.com. Fruits from Plantsystematics.org, stored under the name Macroscepis pleistantha. Vine from Plantsystematics.org, stored under the name Macroscepis pleistantha.