6787.000 Gomphocarpus R. Br.

Short-lived perennial sub-shrubs or pyrophytic herbs. Rootstock usually a fibrous tap root, never tuberous. Latex white. Leaves generally opposite. Inflorescences consisting of extra-axillary nodding umbels. Corolla lobes spreading or reflexed, commonly with a line of long white hairs along the right margin. Corona with 5 well-developed cucullate lobes. Pollinia flattened. Stigma head flat. Follicles generally 1, inflated (in ours). Seeds with a tuft of hairs. Closely related to Asclepias.

Worldwide: 20 species, native to drier parts of Africa and neighbouring parts of Arabia, Sinai, Israel and Jordan

Botswana: 4 taxa.