Cynanchum viminale(L.) L.

WFO wfo-0000633723 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Cynanchum viminale, photographed by Hugo Innes
fig. a Hugo Innes, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-05 / obs. 203459016
Cynanchum viminale, photographed by Di Turner
fig. b Di Turner, CC0 1.0 / obs. 195337236
Cynanchum viminale, photographed by Di Turner
fig. c Di Turner, CC0 1.0 / obs. 194656483
Cynanchum viminale, photographed by Greg Tasney
fig. d Greg Tasney, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 186695663
Cynanchum viminale, photographed by Andrew Hankey
fig. e Andrew Hankey, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 181929558
Cynanchum viminale, photographed by Kym Nicolson
fig. f Kym Nicolson, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 182810039
Cynanchum viminale, photographed by Hugo Innes
fig. g Hugo Innes, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 179723842
Cynanchum viminale, photographed by Greg Tasney
fig. h Greg Tasney, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 174805812

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 58 botanical countries

Regions where Cynanchum viminale is native: Aldabra, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina, Burundi, Cape Provinces, Comoros, Djibouti, DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Free State, Ghana, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Réunion, Rodrigues, Rwanda, Seychelles, Socotra, Somalia, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, China Southeast, Hainan, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Bangladesh, India, Malaya, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, New Caledonia AngolaBeninBotswanaBurkinaBurundiCape ProvincesDjiboutiDR CongoEquatorial GuineaEritreaEswatiniEthiopiaFree StateGhanaKenyaKwaZulu-NatalLesothoMadagascarMalawiMaliMozambiqueNamibiaNigeriaNorthern ProvincesRwandaSomaliaSudan-South SudanTanzaniaUgandaZambiaZimbabweChina SoutheastHainanOmanSaudi ArabiaYemenBangladeshIndiaMalayaMyanmarNepalPakistanPhilippinesSri LankaThailandVietnamNew South WalesNorthern TerritoryQueenslandSouth AustraliaWestern AustraliaNew Caledonia AldabraComorosRéunionRodriguesSeychelles
Native distribution of Cynanchum viminale, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Aldabra ALD AFRICA
Angola ANG
Benin BEN
Botswana BOT
Burkina BKN
Burundi BUR
Cape Provinces CPP
Comoros COM
Djibouti DJI
DR Congo ZAI
Equatorial Guinea EQG
Eritrea ERI
Eswatini SWZ
Ethiopia ETH
Free State OFS
Ghana GHA
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Lesotho LES
Madagascar MDG
Malawi MLW
Mali MLI
Mozambique MOZ
Namibia NAM
Nigeria NGA
Northern Provinces TVL
Réunion REU
Rodrigues ROD
Rwanda RWA
Seychelles SEY
Socotra SOC
Somalia SOM
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM
Bangladesh BAN ASIA-TROPICAL
India IND
Malaya MLY
Myanmar MYA
Nepal NEP
Pakistan PAK
Philippines PHI
Sri Lanka SRL
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
China Southeast CHS ASIA-TEMPERATE
Hainan CHH
Oman OMA
Saudi Arabia SAU
Yemen YEM
New South Wales NSW AUSTRALASIA
Northern Territory NTA
Queensland QLD
South Australia SOA
Western Australia WAU
New Caledonia NWC PACIFIC

Not drawn on the map: Socotra. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 140 in flower of 223 examined

Peak flowering in Mar. Each bar is the share of Cynanchum viminale observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 140 of 223 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 41 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Apocynum viminale Bassi
  • Apocynum viminale Bassi ex Schult.
  • Asclepias aphylla Thunb.
  • Asclepias nuda Thonn. & Schumach.
  • Asclepias stipitacea Forssk.
  • Cynanchum aphyllum L.
  • Cynanchum aphyllum (Schult.) Schltr.
  • Cynanchum mulanjense (Liede & Meve) Liede & Meve
  • Cynanchum tetrapterum (Turcz.) R.A.Dyer ex Bullock
  • Cynanchum viminale Blanco
  • Decanemopsis aphylla Costantin & Gallaud
  • Euphorbia pendula (Haw.) Sweet
  • Euphorbia viminalis L.
  • Monostemma aphyllum (Schult.) Turcz.
  • Monostemma tetrapterum Turcz.
  • Sarcostemma andongense Hiern
  • Sarcostemma aphyllum Schult.
  • Sarcostemma australe R.Br.
  • Sarcostemma brachystigma Hook.
  • Sarcostemma brevistylum Royle
  • Sarcostemma brunonianum Wight & Arn.
  • Sarcostemma daltoni Decne. ex Webb
  • Sarcostemma madagascariense Desc.
  • Sarcostemma mulanjense Liede & Meve

and 17 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.