| Gelsemium | |
|---|---|
| |
| Gelsemium sempervirens[1] | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Gentianales |
| Family: | Gelsemiaceae |
| Genus: | Gelsemium Juss. |
| Synonyms[2] | |
| |
Gelsemium is an Asian and North American genus of flowering plants belonging to family Gelsemiaceae. The genus contains three species of shrubs to straggling or twining climbers. Two species are native to North America, and one to China and Southeast Asia.[2]
Carl Linnaeus first classified G. sempervirens as Bignonia sempervirens in 1753; Antoine Laurent de Jussieu created a new genus for this species in 1789. Gelsemium is a Latinized form of the Italian word for jasmine, gelsomino. G. elegans has the common name "heartbreak grass".[3]
- ^ 1897 illustration from Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen
- ^ a b Ornduff, R (1970). "The systematics and breeding system of Gelsemium (Loganiceae)". Journal of the Arnold Arboretum. 51 (1): 1–17. doi:10.5962/bhl.part.7036. includes description, drawings, distribution map, etc.
- ^ Lewis, Leo (2012-01-04). "A purrfect murder? Tycoon killed by poisoned cat stew". The Times. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
...the fatal dose of Gelsemium elegans, a highly poisonous plant known as 'heartbreak grass'