periploca

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A genus of gamopetalous twining vines of the order Asclepiadeæ, type of tribe Periploceæ, and distinguished by a corona consisting of short broad scales, united at the base, and commonly with awlshaped appendages. The 12 species are natives of southern Europe, Asia, and tropical Africa. They are smooth and leafy twiners, or sometimes rigidly erect shrubs. They bear loose cymes of rather small flowers, greenish without and livid or dark within, followed by smooth cylindrical follicles. The opposite leaves are in some species entirely lacking. P. Græca is the milk-vine, silk-vine, or climbing dog's-bane, valued for covering walls, and for its handsome leaves and purplish flowers. It is the common vine of the hedge-rows of southern Europe, and its acrid juice is used in the East as a wolf-poison. See Hemidesmus, formerly included in this genus.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. genus of woody vines of warm regions of the Old World