All of my specimens are from rocky wooded slopes except one which was found in a low woods in Posey County, associated with the preceding species [Gonolobus gonocarpos]. [Deam includes Gonolobus gonocarpos (= Matelea gonocarpos) in his Manual. Herbarium records do not support this, suggesting that the following note applies instead to Matelea. obliqua.] Climbing vines in low woodland and in cultivated fields.

Lvs ovate to rotund, the basal lobes sometimes separated by a wide, rounded sinus, sometimes overlapping; fl-buds conic; cor brownish-purple, its lobes ascending, 10- 16 mm, 1.5-2.5 mm wide, gradually tapering from base to apex; corona fleshy, equaling or slightly surpassing the gynostegium, its lobes ±truncate or emarginate. Rocky woods and thickets; Pa. to O., Ind., and Mo., s. to N.C. and Tenn. June, July. (Gonolobus o.; Odontostephana o.; Vincetoxicum o.; G. shortii; O. shortii)

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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