Taxon: Gomphocarpus fruticosus (L.) W. T. Aiton

Common names:

• balloon-cotton   (Source: Noxweed Aust )
  
• Cape-cotton   (Source: Noxweed Aust )
  
• duckbush   (Source: Noxweed Aust )
  
• narrow-leaf cottonbush   (Source: Noxweed Aust )
  
• swanplant   (Source: Noxweed Aust )
  
• wild cotton   (Source: Websters Dict as Asclepias fruticosa)
  

Economic importance:

• Environmental: ornamental   (fide Dict Gard, as Asclepias fruticosa)
  
• Medicines: folklore   (fide F ChinaEng)
  
• Vertebrate poisons: mammals   (fide Kellerman et al., as Asclepias fruticosus; Econ Pl Aust, as Asclepias fruticosus)
  
• Weed: also potential seed contaminant   (fide Noxweed Aust)
  

More:

View toxicology references for Gomphocarpus fruticosus from FDA Poisonous Plant Database

View ethnobotanical data from Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases

Distributional range:

Native:

• AFRICA
  West Tropical Africa: Guinea
  Southern Africa: Botswana; Lesotho; Namibia; South Africa; Swaziland
  Western Indian Ocean: Madagascar
• ASIA-TEMPERATE
  Arabian Peninsula: Yemen

Other:

• naturalized in Australia, Azores, India, & Mauritius

References:

• Berhaut, J. 1971–. Flore illustrée du Senegal. (F Senegal)
• Boulos, L. 1995. Flora of Egypt checklist. (L Egypt)
• Chinese Academy of Sciences. 1959–. Flora reipublicae popularis sinicae. (F China) [cultivated].
• Cufodontis, G. 1953–1972. Enumeratio plantarum aethiopiae: Spermatophyta. (F EthiopCuf)
• Davis, P. H., ed. 1965–1988. Flora of Turkey and the east Aegean islands. (F Turk)
• Encke, F. et al. 1984. Zander: Handwörterbuch der Pflanzennamen, 13. Auflage. (Zander ed13)
• George, A. S., ed. 1980–. Flora of Australia. (F Aust)
• Greuter, W. et al., eds. 1984–. Med-Checklist. (L Medit) [= Asclepias fruticosa L.].
• Holm, L. et al. 1979. A geographical atlas of world weeds. (Atlas WWeed)
• Huxley, A., ed. 1992. The new Royal Horticultural Society dictionary of gardening. (Dict Gard) [= Asclepias fruticosa L.].
• Jahandiez, E. & R. Maire. 1931–1941. Catalogue des plantes du Maroc. (L Maroc)
• Keay, R. W. J. & F. N. Hepper. 1953–1972. Flora of west tropical Africa, ed. 2. (F WT Afr)
• Komarov, V. L. et al., eds. 1934–1964. Flora SSSR. (F USSR)
• Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium. 1976. Hortus third. (Hortus 3) [= Asclepias fruticosa L.].
• Meikle, R. D. 1977–1985. Flora of Cyprus. (F Cyprus) [= Asclepias fruticosa L.].
• Merxmüller, H., ed. 1966–1972. Prodromus einer flora von Sudwestafrika. (F Namib)
• Mouterde, P. 1966–. Nouvelle flore du Liban et de la Syrie. (F Liban)
• Nicholas, A. 2001. pers. comm. [via email to J. R. Hosking on 21 Apr 1999 (recvd. 28 Feb 2001)].
• Parsons, W. T. & E. G. Cuthbertson. 1992. Noxious weeds of Australia. (Noxweed Aust)
• Pottier-Alapetite, G. 1979–1981. Flore de la Tunisie: Angiospermes-Dicotyledones. (F Tunis)
• Quézel, P. & S. Santa. 1962–1963. Nouvelle flore de l'Algerie. (F Alger)
• Tutin, T. G. et al., eds. 1964–1980. Flora europaea. (F Eur)
• Wood, J. R. I. 1997. A handbook of the flora of Yemen. (F Yemen)
• Wu Zheng-yi & P. H. Raven et al., eds. 1994–. Flora of China (English edition). (F ChinaEng) [cultivated].
• Webster's third new international dictionary. (Websters Dict) [= Asclepias fruticosa].

More:

Search AGRICOLA article citation database for citations referencing Gomphocarpus fruticosus.

Search NCBI's Entrez search engine for PubMed citations referencing Gomphocarpus fruticosus. Note: Defaults to a search by genus or species epithet if species binomial not found.

Synonyms:

• (≡) Asclepias fruticosa L. (basionym)
  

Check other databases for Gomphocarpus fruticosus (L.) W. T. Aiton:

• Flora Europaea: Database of European Plants (ESFEDS)
• Flora of China: Online version from Harvard University
• ABIF: Australian Biodiversity Information Facility's Flora of Australia online
• Mansfeld: Mansfeld's World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops
• ePIC: Electronic Plant Information Centre of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
• AGRICOLA: Article Citation Database or NAL Catalog of USDA's National Agricultural Library
• Entrez: NCBI's search engine for PubMed citations, GenBank sequences, etc.
  Note: Defaults to a search by genus or species epithet if species binomial not found.

Check other databases for images:

• PlantSystematics.org
• Images Note: Be advised that their identity may be inaccurate. Proper identification of a plant may require specialized taxonomic knowledge or comparison with properly documented herbarium material.

Abbreviations & symbols in GRIN Taxonomy

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