Distribution Map

Gomphocarpus fruticosus subsp. fruticosus

               
(Asclepias fruticosa)

Apocynaceae Asclepiadoideae Asclepiadeae Asclepiadinae

As at April 2024, 18 herbarium specimens, 2 photo records, 1 visual observation

South African Red List status: LC
Global Distribution: Native to southern Africa as far north as SW Angola, Botswana, Zambia and Mozambique. Cultivated and widely naturalised elsewhere in warm temperate or dry subtropical areas of the world.
Found within protected areas: Mlawula Malolotja
Medicinal

Description (Compton's Flora of Swaziland*):
Asclepias fruticosa - Shrubby, erect, branching, up to 1,2 m high, very leafy, velvety-downy. Leaf-stalk slender, blade long-tapering, c 8 cm long x 8 mm wide. Inflorescences lateral, usually hanging, with c six flowers; common stalk c 3 cm long; flower-stalks c 1,5 cm long. Corolla lobes reflexed, c 7 mm long, white; corona compact, lobes blunt. Fruit inflated, c 4 cm long x 2 cm diam, beaked, hairy.

* Where species names have changed, these have been matched according to herbarium specimens quoted in this publication.

Notes:
Global distribution information: southern Africa includes southern Mozambique and southern Zimbabwe.
Restricted distribution has been based on an estimated extent of occurence of less than 100 000 km2 and/or an estimated area of occupancy of 100 km2, based on geo-referenced GBIF and iNaturalist data.