Oxystelma
(from oxys, sharp, and stelma, a girdle; in reference to the segments of the corona being acute). ORD. Asclepiadeae. A small genus (four species) of stove, climbing, glabrous herbs or sub-shrubs, natives of tropical Asia and Africa. Flowers rather large; corolla purple-spotted and veined, rather broad; cymes loosely racemose or umbelliform, not unfrequently reduced to one flower. Leaves opposite, narrow. O. esculentum is the only species in cultivation; it thrives in a compost of loam, leaf mould, and sand. Good drainage is essential. Like many other stove climbers, it perhaps does best when planted out against a wall or rafter, and its shoots trained near the glass.
O. esculentum (esculent). fl. white, with a tinge of rose, large; corolla fringed with hairs; racemes longer than the leaves. l. linear-lanceolate, veiny, smooth, 4in. to 6in. long. India, Java, &c., 1816.