Syn.: Gonolobus lasiostemma (Hemsl.) Woodson, Lachnostoma lasiostemma Hemsl.
Family: Apocynaceae Juss.
Distribution: Central America – Guatemala and El Salvador.
Ecology: It grows in moist or dry, often rocky thickets or in hedges, at elevations from 400 to 2300 m asl.
Description: Large herbaceous vine. Stems densely hirsute. Leaves opposite, petiolate, oblong-ovate, 8–14.3 × 3.6–8.8 cm, cordate at the base, acute at the apex, with short hairs on both surfaces. Inflorescences axillary, lax, umbelliform, short-pedunculate. Flowers 2–3 cm broad; calyx deeply 5-lobate, the segments linear-lanceolate, acute, almost equalling the corolla; corolla green, tubular at the base, hirtellous, the tube shorter than the lobes; corona adnate to the corolla tube, erect, deeply 5-lobed, lobes rounded, the outer corona of 5 scales opposite the corolla lobes, barbate, the inner corona of 5 glabrous scales. The fruits are follicles, 13–15 cm long and 4.5–6 cm wide.
Note: The genus Matelea contains about 200 species.
These images were taken in Guatemala, Sololá, San Pedro La Laguna (by Jindřiška Vančurová, February 3, 2015).
