Gelsemium sempervirens

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Gelsemium sempervirens
Gels semp.jpg
Photo by John R. Gwaltney, Southeastern Flora.com
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons
Order: Gentianales
Family: Loganiaceae
Genus: Gelsemium
Species: G. sempervirens
Binomial name
Gelsemium sempervirens
(L.) W.T. Aiton
Gels semp dist.jpg
Natural range of Gelsemium sempervirens from USDA NRCS Plants Database.

Common names: Evening trumpetflower; Yellow jessamine; Carolina jessamine

Taxonomic notes

Description

"High climbing or trailing vines, twining upward from left to right. Leaves evergreen, opposite, lanceolate to elliptic, 3-7 cm long, 1-2.5 cm wide, acute to acuminate, entire, base rounded to cuneate; petioles 2-7 mm long. Flowers actinomorphic, heterostylic, axillary, solitary or in cymes; pedicels short, bracteate. Sepals 5, separate to base, lanceolate,, 3-5 mm long, 1-2 mm wide; corolla 5-lobed, yellow, 2-3.8 cm long, the tube gradually flaring upward, lobes 7-10 mm long, spreading; stamens 5, attached to lower part of corolla tube, anthers sagittate; pistil 1, slender styled, 2-cleft, each divided again and appearing 4-cleft. Capsule compressed; seeds many, dull brown, the body roughly papillose." [1]

"Leaf base cuneate to rounded. Flowers very fragrant, usually solitary, rarely in 2-3 flowered cymes. Speals obtuse to subacute. Capsule oblong, 1.4-2 cm long, 0.8-1.2 cm broad, abruptly rounded to a beaked apex; seeds 0.7-1 cm long, membranously winged apically."[1]

Distribution

Ecology

Seed dispersal

According to Kay Kirkman, a plant ecologist, this species disperses by gravity. [2]

Pollination

The following Hymenoptera families and species were observed visiting flowers of Gelsemium sempervirens at Archbold Biological Station: [3]

Apidae: Bombus griseocollis, B. impatiens, Habropoda laboriosa

Conservation and management

Cultivation and restoration

Photo Gallery

References and notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 Radford, Albert E., Harry E. Ahles, and C. Ritchie Bell. Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas. 1964, 1968. The University of North Carolina Press. Print.
  2. Kay Kirkman, unpublished data, 2015.
  3. Deyrup, M.A. and N.D. 2015. Database of observations of Hymenoptera visitations to flowers of plants on Archbold Biological Station, Florida, USA.