Garlic Vine

Cydista aequinoctiales (L.) Miers

sigh-DISS-tah ek-qua-knock-tee-AY-lis

Bignoniaceae

Explanation of name: Generic name from Greek kydistos for most glorious. The specific epithet means equatorial.

Misapplied name: Mansoa alliacea (Lam.) A. H. Gentry

Taxonomic note:  The generic name Mansoa has been subject to confusion and varying interpretations. The preeminent late Bignoniaceae taxonomist, the Alwyn Gentry, discussed this in Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 66: 779-784. 1979. The name “Mansoa alliacea” is first published in that publication. Confusion concerns the use of Cydista aequinoctiales as opposed to Mansoa alliacea. Perhaps due to a history of misapplication of the name Mansoa alliacea to the garden “Garlic Vine,” there is a tendency in garden writing (not in taxonomic writings) to list the Mansoa name as a synonym of the Cydista name. Although synonymy is often a matter of interpretation by taxonomists Gentry, who was author of the name “Mansoa alliacea,” did not regard the two as the same species. The following is Gentry’s characterization of C. aequinoctiales from the “Flora of the Venezuelan Guyana”:

Inflorescence corymbose-paniculate, the central axis not well-developed; leaflets with glandular fields in the axils of many of the secondary veins below; branchlets terete to nearly tetragonal; capsule linear or linear-oblong, less than 2.5 cm wide ..... C. aequinoctialis.   Gentry noted further: The species of Cydista are characterized by the lack of a nectariferous disk and are associated with the "multiple-bang" flowering syndrome.

Natural range: Tropical America (escaped in Florida, WU1)

Recognition: Robust woody vine having tendril-bearing opposite compound leaves, blue-violet showy flowers, and long beanlike pods. Crushed foliage smells like garlic.

Landscape uses: Showy climbing vine for strong supportive structures.

For a contemporary taxonomic treatment see: http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/ven-guayana/bignoniaceae/tofc.html

Additional data:

http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/Bignoniaceae/Cydista_aequinoctialis.html