S. Liede-Schumann & M.G. Gilbert (2006) Flora of Somalia 4: 148-151, 152-154
Plants vines, erect herbs, or small shrubs; latex clear, sometimes sparse. Inflorescences usually with many flowers, often open. Corollas deeply 5-lobed, the inner surfaces usually with indumentum; corolline coronas absent; gynostegial coronas consisting of 5 discrete lobes adnate to the staminal column below the anther wings; anther connectives with apical appendages; pollinaria more or less horizontal on top of the gynostegia; pollinia pendent, spreading or erect relative to the corpusculum, ovoid to globose; stigmatic heads more or less flat, capitate or globose. Follicles usually single, smooth, wingless; seeds usually smooth, sometimes tuberculate or papillose, usually winged, with a tuft of hairs at one end.
Vincetoxicum has been expanded to include four of the genera recognized in the Flora of Somalia: Blyttia, Godyera, Pleurostelma, and Tyophora as well as some other genera that occur elsewhere. As now (2022) interpreted, Vincetoxicum includes 248 species. They grow in tropical and subtropical regions throughout the world, with a few species being widely cultivated. Somaliland and Somalia have 5 species.
Note: GBIF records include introduced and cultivated plants. Consequently, the distribution shown often differs from statements about a taxon's native distribution.