David do you find the be Cynanchum laeve to be overly weedy?

luvsgrtdanes said:David do you find the be Cynanchum laeve to be overly weedy?

I'm finding it called ampelamus albidus honeyvine milkweed.

http://oak.ppws.vt.edu/~flessn...

Still looks the same. Interested in learning more... A native plant can't possibly be as bad as some people make out... Can it?

There's a lot of other matelea growing around here.

Yellow flowered:
http://hawthornhillwildflowers...

As well as the purple that you have:
http://ozarkedgewildflowers.co...

And then there's the Biflora, not sure I have that...

But, also the gonolobus suberosus with a less attractive flower, but a gorgeous seed pod....
http://www.namethatplant.net/p...

I garden in an area of Macon with the mateleas and gonolobus (growing wild), but haven't seen any honey vine.

The vines we have here are very slow to establish from seed (years), but don't seem to mind being transplanted as flowering size vines....

Edit:
This is interesting...
Found additional purples!
http://www.namethatplant.net/p...
M. Obliqua.
http://www.namethatplant.net/p...
M. Caroliniensis

I think I have m.caroliensis and m. Flavidia and gonolobus suberosa.

Can't link to the compare page....

luvsgrtdanes said:David do you find the be Cynanchum laeve to be overly weedy?

Not for me - but I love natives. And I find this one of the best monarch attractors for egg laying. Overly weedy is a phrase that does not have a lot of meaning to me - I grow things like Mugwort and Motherwort. Wanta talk weedy?

Last year my neighbor accidentally cut the base stem of one of these. He did not intend to. I had been observing it as it was coming into bloom and they have a lovely scent. I looked closely and ended up finding 8 cats that I brought to my place as this was dead August with temps > 100 and knew the cats would perish in at most 2 days or so.

I am not sure what bugs me most. The same "common" name for multiple plants or multiple latin names for the same plant. THAT frustrates me! I mean I understand when they switch families....

This one apparently goes by not only Cynanchum laeve but also Ampelamus albidus or Gonolobus laevis. THAT is freaking rediculous.

Thanks for the info David. I am looking forward to growing it.

I found some funastrum seeds here:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/281774...

I think it's worth a try. With any luck I'll have lots of seeds for this next year.
Dee

I started paying attention to the unpronounceable plant names y'all have been discussing. Previously in this thread I mentioned that I had a climbing MW vine but that I didn't remember it's name. @Frostweed, the source of said plant, reminded me that it's name is Funastrum cynancoides and she also reminded me that it might take a few years for it to bloom. But first I'll have to see if it survived the weather.

Dang it! I just tried to upload a picture of it and it was taking way too long. I went into another room to get something and when I returned the picture was still 'Uploading . . .' 👿

So the Funastrum cynanchoides appears to be the scientific name and the synonym is Sarcostemma cynanchoides. Common names are Fringed Twinevine and Climbing Milkweed. Oh. dear. Another source has the scientific name and the synonym reversed from the 1st one I quoted. I didn't mark all the links b/c at the time I didn't know I would need to. Plus I wanted to scroll back thru this thread to see if I'm even talking the same language as you all are. So maybe if you're reading this post you should stop b/c I'll probably return and edit it. 😜

@DavidLMO said, 'I am not sure what bugs me most. The same "common" name for multiple plants or multiple latin names for the same plant. THAT frustrates me!'
I am with you 100%. See above. Grrrr. However, unless you were joking, you went on to say, 'I mean I understand when they switch families….' and if not joking you will have to explain that to me, perhaps in a tree mail if too much for this thread.


After looking at what some are calling 'the purples', I totally understand why y'all have been so excited about them. Wow! They are outstanding! I wanna. I don't think that's what I have, assuming it survives. But wait! What do y'all mean by 'the purples'???

Yes, there are Cuban Monarchs. I recently read about them. And yes, they basically stay in Cuba. Smoking cigars, I guess. But wait! Now some scientists/researchers are saying that the Monarchs might leave Cuba and then cross over to the Yucatan. Or go to other islands in the Caribbean. Dang this stuff gets confusing.

I think someone mentioned Passiflora biflora. (Sorry. The mention was just 'biflora'.) So anyway, I bought one at a native plant sale. Was told that the bloom would be yellow and white. Unfortunately all that's left of the plant is the tag.

tx_flower_child said:

@DavidLMO said, 'I am not sure what bugs me most. The same "common" name for multiple plants or multiple latin names for the same plant. THAT frustrates me!'
I am with you 100%. See above. Grrrr. However, unless you were joking, you went on to say, 'I mean I understand when they switch families….' and if not joking you will have to explain that to me, perhaps in a tree mail if too much for this thread.

After looking at what some are calling 'the purples', I totally understand why y'all have been so excited about them. Wow! They are outstanding! I wanna. I don't think that's what I have, assuming it survives. But wait! What do y'all mean by 'the purples'???

The family change is when some plant group gets picked up lock stop and moved elsewhere.
When plants were first classified, much of it was done bu simply visual clues; e.g. looks like thus and such, so put it there. Today with much more sophisticated tools including DNA, plants get put in other Family groups - more of a this is where this truly belongs sort of thing - regardless of whether it looks like something else.

Not sure what you mean by the Purples, but I assume you mean Purple Milkweed - Asclepias purpurascens. Sometimes WRT milkweed the term Purple is used for the purple version of Giant Milkweed - Calotropis gigantea (there is a white version as well.)

DomehomeDee said:I found some funastrum seeds here:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/281774...

I think it's worth a try. With any luck I'll have lots of seeds for this next year.
Dee

That seller is Top Notch and he/she has many things worth drooling over. He/she has about 10 milkweeds that are not yer bread and butter types.

I am pretty sure I have purchased from him/her before.

I just put an order in with that seller, I have ordered from her many times and have been growing her morning glory seeds for 20 years. Definitely a top notch seller

I bought seeds from her the other day. Giant purple. I need to go check the mail. It will be fun to share our seed growing experiences together. That ebay seller does have some goodies

I went a bit crazy and ordered

Funastrum cynanchoides / Sarcostemma
Asclepias exaltata
Dregea sinensis
Oxypetalum caerulea
Asclepias humistrata

From two different Etsy sellers I got
Asclepias fascicularis and Calotropis Gigantea

Thanks to this thread, I remembered to ask my mom about a vine that I saw flowering in her yard this summer. Guess what I was able to grab right before the winds and storms rolled through!

Okay, the other side shows its angles a little better.

So which vine was it Danita?

It's Anglepod Milkvine (Matelea gonocarpos aka Gonolobus suberosus.) I was at my parent's this summer when they were weeding an area and I noticed it before it got ripped up. I recognized it because I had one come up in my yard a couple of years ago (sadly, it croaked without setting seed.) The plants at their house had flowers with more maroon and less green. There is no size reference in my photos, but that pod is almost 6 inches long and has the neatest angular shape. The fluff (coma) is also gorgeous in the sunlight.
Anglepod (Gonolobus suberosus)

Matelea gonocarpos

Wow .,.. now here is one with lots of synonyms....[sigh]

good grief

Synonym(s): Gonolobus gonocarpos, Gonolobus suberosus, Matelea suberosa, Matelea suberosus, Vincetoxicum gonocarpos, Vincetoxicum suberosum

If you find you have far too many, I would gladly trade some thing with you.

Note that hardiness info is very confusing.

I got in my Asclepias purpurascens purple milkweed and Calotropis gigantean giant milkweed seeds out of my mail box today. Anyone have advise or experience they can share with me on these two? Any and all knowledge shared would be very helpful. This will be year of the milkweed for me. An all new adventure to try and see what ones I can grow. I am not sure what took me so long.

@Danita - Wow! That is one big pod! Flower looks nice too.

@luvsgrtdanes - hope you have a lot of land to grow all those seeds. I'm going to have to look a lot of those up. Out of curiosity mostly. I just have a small city lot with a lot of shade. But if any MW grows in partial shade or partial sun, who knows? I think I got lucky with my tropical MW b/c last year I planted it early when the leaves had dropped (which was earlier than this year) and the weather was perfect. Or wait. That was 2 years ago. Maybe.

Esperanza, I don't know what the climate is where you live, but Asclepias purpurascens needs about a month of cold, moist stratification to get good germination. Winter sow your seeds now, if you still expect freezing and near freezing temperatures off and on yet this season. If your remaining winter is mild, you can sow your seeds in a container, enclose it in a sealed plastic bag, and place it it your fridge for a month before moving it outdoors. Plants may not bloom until next year, but they lovely when they do. Once your plants are in the ground, avoid the urge to move them to another location as they develop a deep taproot and resist transplanting.

luvsgrtdanes said:I went a bit crazy and ordered

Funastrum cynanchoides / Sarcostemma
Asclepias exaltata
Dregea sinensis
Oxypetalum caerulea
Asclepias humistrata

From two different Etsy sellers I got
Asclepias fascicularis and Calotropis Gigantea

Wow. You have a few challenges there - such as keeping many of them alive next Winter.

Do keep us posted with progress during the growing season.

Particularly interested in Dregea sinensis as it is the only one of the above that I have never heard of.