Cruel vine, moth-vine

Stems to 12 m. Leaves: petiole 0.4–5 cm, eglandular-pubescent; blade hastate, deltate, oblong, or ovate, 0.8–14 × 0.2–6.4 cm, base truncate to cordate, sur­faces glabrous to eglandular-pubescent. Inflorescences: pe­duncle 0.4–4.3 cm, eglandular-pubescent. Pedicels 0.4–1.4 cm, eglandular-pubescent. Flowers: sepals green, ovate, leaf­like, 8–15 × 3–7 mm, surfaces eglandular-pubescent; calycine colleters absent; corolla white or light pink, funnelform, tube 12.1–15.9 × 5.5–9.8 mm, abaxial surface eglandular-pubescent, adaxial surface glabrous except eglandular-pubescent at base, lobes 6.4–9.6 × 4.5–5.4 mm, abaxial surface eglandular-pubescent, adaxial surface glabrous; gynostegial corona of 5 distinct staminal elements, revolute, oblong or quadrate, 2.5–3.9 × 1–2 mm, not fused into tube, not obscuring gyno­stegium, glabrous; style-head extension 2-fid, 3.5 mm. Follicles 4.2–12.5 × 1.6–5.7 cm, minutely eglandular-pubescent. Seeds brown, 5–7 × 2–3 mm; coma 2.2–5.2 cm. 2n = 20.

Flowering summer–fall; fruiting fall–winter. Chap­arral, woodlands, citrus groves, urban/suburban dis­turbed sites; 100–400 m; introduced; Ariz., Calif.; South America; introduced also in Central America, Europe, Africa, Pacific Islands, Australia.

The naturalization of Araujia sericifera in the flora area has been substantiated only for Arizona and California, although it has also been reported for Georgia (J. T. Kartesz, http://www.bonap.org/MapSwitchboard.html). A recent risk assessment estimates that about one-third of the United States presents suitable habitat for the species (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service [U.S.D.A.] 2012).