BALLOON-VINE HEARTSEED
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| File Size: 157 KB |
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Cardiospermum halicacabum L.
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| Cowley County, Kansas |
| Annual |
| Height: Vine, 1-11 feet |
| Family: Sapindaceae - Soapberry Family |
| Flowering Period: June, July, August, September |
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| Stems: | | Sprawling and trailing, much-branched, bearing axillary tendrils. | | Leaves: | | Alternate: petiole .4 to 1.8 inch; blade pentagonal to broadly ovate in outline, 1-2-ternately compound; leaflets ovate-lanceolate to rhombic-lanceolate or narrowly lanceolate, primary leaflets .4 to 3 inches, base wedge-shaped, margins coarsely toothed or lobed, tip acuminate. | | Inflorescences: | | Axillary, panicles, 3-11-flowered; peduncles 1 to 2.4 inches. | | Flowers: | | Sepal lobes 4, unequal, 2 large ones opposite, .1 to .14 inch, 2 small ones opposite, to .06 inch; petals 4, distinct, slightly unequal, white, obovate, .1 to .14 inch, each with petaloid appendage at base; stamens 8; style 1; stigma 3-lobed. | | Fruits: | | Capsules bladdery-inflated, 3-lobed, 1 to 1.6 by 1.1 to 1.2 inch.; seeds 3, globose, black, shiny, ca. .2 inch; aril light gray or white, heart- or kidney-shaped. | | Habitat: | | Moist thickets, riverbanks, fields, and waste places. | | Distribution: | | Scattered occurrence in east 2/3 of Kansas | | Origin: | | Introduced | | Comments: | | Cardiospermum halicacabum occasionally is grown as a trellis plant for its foliage and fruits. Cardiospermum alludes to the heart-shaped aril on the seed. |
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| Balloon-vine heartseed capsules |  | | 126 KB | | Cowley County, Kansas |
| | Balloon-vine heartseed |  | | 120 KB | | Cowley County, Kansas |
| | Balloon-vine heartseed leaf |  | | 87 KB | | Cowley County, Kansas |
| | Balloon-vine heartseed leaf |  | | 98 KB | | Cowley County, Kansas |
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