Gonolobus
(from gonia, an angle, and lobos, a pod; in reference to one of the original species having costate-angled follicles). ORD. Asclepiadeae. A genus containing about seventy species of stove, greenhouse or hardy, twining or prostrate, shrubs or sub-shrubs, natives of tropical and North America. Flowers dull or dark-coloured, in racemes or corymbs; peduncles interpetiolar; corolla rotate or reflexed, spreading; limb five-parted. Leaves opposite, very often cordate. The greenhouse and stove species thrive, with ordinary treatment, in a compost of loam and peat. Cuttings will root readily in sand, under a glass. The hardy sorts require a light sandy soil, and a warm dryish situation; and may be increased by divisions or by seeds. G. carolinensis (Carolina).* fl. purplish, umbellate; segments of corolla oval-oblong, bluntish. June and July. l. ovate-cordate, acuminated, downy, on longish petioles. Stem and petioles hairy. Carolina, 1824. Greenhouse deciduous. (S. B. F. G. 1.) G. Cundurango (Condor Vine). The correct name of this plant is Marsdenia Cundurango (which see).
G. diadematus (diademed). fl. green; crown at bottom of tube. September and October. l. oblong, elliptical, lanceolate, cordate. Mexico, 1812. Stove. (B. R. 252.) G. laevis (smooth). fl. green; umbels many-flowered; corolla rather elongated-conical in the bud, not twisted; lobes narrowly or linear-lanceolate, obtuse, glabrous inside. June. l. oblong-cordate, with a deep and narrow but open sinus, conspicuously acuminate. North America, 1806. Hardy herbaceous. There is a variety, macrophyllus, with broadly-cordate leaves, and with the rounded basal lobes approximate or even overlapping. G. niger (black). fl. black, or very dark purple; racemes few-flowered. October. l. ovate-cordate, acute. Mexico, 1825. Stove evergreen. (B. M. 2799.) G. obliquus (oblique). fl. in umbels, sometimes cymosely compound or geminate; corolla in the bud oblong-conical; lobes crimson-purple inside, dull or greenish and minutely pubescent outside. Summer. l. from rounded to ovate-cordate, with a narrow sinus, abruptly acuminate. North America, 1809. Hardy. SYN. Cynanchum discolor (under which name it is figured in B. M. 1273.) G. suberosus (sub-erose). fl., umbels three to nine-flowered, much shorter than the petiole; corolla broadly conical, and with abrupt acumination, twisted in the bud; lobes ovate, or becoming triangular-lanceolate, acute, of thickish and firm texture. Summer. l. cordate, with an open and shallow, or sometimes deeper and narrow, sinus, acuminate, minutely pubescent, glabrate, or sometimes hairy. North America, 1732. Hardy. SYN. Cynanchum suberosum.