Two new leafless succulent species from Madagascar, Cynanchum folotsioides and Cynanchum hardyi, are described. Both species have been in cultivation for a considerable time. However, because of the general confusion in Malagasy Cynanchum, they have only now been recognized as new to science. Folotsia aculeata (Descoings) Descoings is transferred to Cynanchum. In the course of a revision of the Malagasy Asclepiadaceae-Cynanchinae for the Flora of Madagascar project, we received two plants representing species that were not only undescribed, but of which there were no specimens in any of the collections consulted (K, MO, P). Cynanchum folotsioides (Fig. 2) possesses yellow latex and striped succulent shoots, a character combination shared with C. decaisnianum Descoings, C. mahafalense Jumelle & H. Perrier, and C. messeri Jumelle & H. Perrier. The latter two possess corolla lobes densely covered with monocellular trichomes, while those in C. decaisnianum and C. folotsioides are glabrous. In a strictly corona-based classification, C. folotsioides would be described as a member of the genus Folotsia because its more prominent corona lobes stand in interstaminal position. However, the combination of striped shoots, yellow latex, and anther wings of two ridges with upwardly directed bristles in between clearly places this species in Cynanchum L. The same argument holds for the atypical Folotsia aculeata Descoings (Fig. 1). This species, with its narrowly campanulate, highly fused corolla and its stylar head with a long appendage, also possesses the yellow latex and striped shoots associated with Cynanchum. However, its much reduced anther wings suggest neither genus. If the corona type of C. decaisnianum, with its ten lobes (five in staminal, five in interstaminal position), is considered as the ancestral type, the idea that the staminal lobes have undergone reduction, as in C. folotsioides and F aculeata, is not any more unlikely than a reduction of the interstaminal lobes. The present authors have recognized the combination of shoot morphology, latex color, and anther wing morphology as systematically more telling than slight variations in corona morphology, a character likely subject to strong selection by pollinators. Therefore, exceedingly smooth shoots, white latex, and papillose anther wings are considered characteristic of Folotsia, in addition to a dominance of the interstaminal corona lobes. A cladistic analysis of all Malagasy and African Cynanchum and Folotsia species in preparation by the senior author supports this conclusion. Possibly, more species can be attributed to the distinct group of species characterized by yellow latex; however, latex color is often not recorded by collectors. The second new species, Cynanchum hardyi (Fig. 3), belongs to a different alliance within the leafless Malagasy Cynanchinae. Its closest relative is the widespread and frequent C. arenarium Jumelle & H. Perrier, a species better known under the later name C. nodosum (Jumelle & H. Perrier) Descoings. The rare C. hardyi from the west coast of Madagascar differs from C. arenarium by its much more slender flower, distinctly darker corolla lobes, and an umbonate stylar head. More subtle, but equally important, distinctions are the anther wings of C. hardyi being much shorter than the anthers, and, especially, the unique attachment of the pollinium to the translator arm along a long, slender tail. Cynanchum aculeatum (Descoings) Liede & Meve, comb. nov. Basionym: Prosopostelma aculeata Descoings, Natur. Malgache 9: 184. 1957. Folotsia aculeata (Descoings) Descoings, Adansonia sir. 2, 1: 313. 1961. TYPE: Madagascar. Toliara, Cap Sainte-Marie, sur la plateforme terminale, Descoings 1013 (holotype, P; isotype, TAN). Figure 1. NovoN 6: 59-63. 1996. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.123 on Fri, 20 May 2016 08:17:01 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms