台湾夜来香 tai wan ye lai xiang

Asclepias pallida Roxburgh, Fl. Ind. 2: 49. 1824; Pergularia pallida (Roxburgh) Wight & Arnott.

Stems slender, to 3 m, puberulent. Petiole 2.5-3.5 cm; leaf blade ovate-cordate, 6-8 × 3-5 cm, membranous, glabrous, base deeply cordate, apex acuminate; basal veins 5, lateral veins 4 or 5 pairs. Cymes extra-axillary, umbel-like; peduncle 0.7-1.5 cm. Pedicel 5-12 mm. Flowers odorless or nearly so. Sepals ovate-lanceolate, ciliate. Corolla yellow-white; tube nearly as long as or shorter than lobes, throat villous; lobes lanceolate, glabrous. Corona lobes fleshy, apex acuminate, longer than anther appendages; pollinia oblong, erect. Stigma head conical, apex retuse. Follicles cylindric-lanceolate, 5.5-10 cm. Seeds ovate, 5-8 mm; coma ca. 2.5 cm. Fl. Aug, fr. Oct-Dec. 2n = 22.

Open woods. Taiwan [India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand, Vietnam]

Telosma cordata is possibly a cultigen of T. pallida selected for fragrant flowers.