Araujia sericofera Brot.                                                       Asclepiadaceae (Milkweed Family)   Brazil     Cruel Plant   White Bladder Flower

                                            May Photo

Plant Characteristics: Stem twining, less than 12 m., soft-tomentose when young; lvs. opposite, blade cordate, hastate or ovate, blade 5-12 cm., upper surface glabrous, lower gen. densely puberulent, petiole > 1 cm.; infl. axillary,  raceme or panicle-like, rarely 1 flowered; sepals large, lf.-like, +/- erect; corolla +/- erect, 2-3 cm., bell- or funnel-shaped, white or pale pink, ring of tissue at base 0; pistil head with 2 erect, elongate lobes; fr. 

A large, grooved pod, 12.5 cm. long, 5-7.5 cm. wide, tapering to a fascicle of hairs 2.5 cm. long; seeds club shaped, dark brown, silky-tufted.

Habitat: Citrus groves, disturbed places; 100-400m. California Floristic Province.  My specimens were found at  much lower than the above-described elevation range.  The first at +/- 2 meters and the second in upper Big Canyon, probably less than 10 meters above sea level.

Name:  Named for P.A. de Matos Araujo, probably a Brazilian or Portuguese collector, born probably in the latter 1700’s.  Hickman, Ed. 171. Greek, seris, silk; Latin, con, prefix meaning with; Latin, fero, to bear.  (Jaeger 236,64,102). Plant bearing silk, possibly referring to the fascicle of hairs at the base of the fruit, or to the silky-tufted seeds.  (my comment).

General:  Rare in the study area, with only two groups of plants known; the first near the end of the horse & bike bridge easterly of the Delhi Channel and on the marsh side of the path; the second in upper Big Canyon where they have grown to the top of and are covering a dying willow tree.  (my comments).        The popular name Cruel Plant, refers to the flowers holding the proboscides of its pollinators, nocturnal moths, trapping them until dawn.  (Huxley, Vol. I 217).      My old mentor, John Johnson, makes the following comments about this plant.  “I saved some of the seeds and planted them.  They germinated well.  I reduced them to one plant that was planted by a trellis.  It grew rapidly and before summer was over was becoming a nuisance.  Monarch butterflies, finding it, laid their eggs on it, which produced larvae that ate the vine leaves as happily as if they were milkweeds.  Finally the vine threatened to engulf the whole garden, we destroyed it. I fear that if Araujia escapes into natural lands in California, it will become a major pest as the seeds are readily disseminated by the wind and it is a robust grower.”       Probably about 5 glabrous or mealy climbing shrubs native in Brazil and Argentina, one grown out-of-doors in warm regions or under glass. (Bailey 816).  Noxious weed in California.  (Hickman, Ed. 171).

Text Ref:  Bailey 816; Hickman, Ed. 171; Huxley, Vol. I 217; Robbins, et al. 335; Sunset Editors, New Western Garden Book 1984, 185.

Photo Ref: May-June 01 #6A; July 01 #1,23; Nov-April 01-02 #1A.

Identity: by R. De Ruff, confirmed by John Johnson.

First Found:  May 2001.

Computer Ref:  Plant Data 529.

Have plant specimen.

Last edit  7/5/04.

                 July Photo                                                     July Photo