Periploca was described by Linnaeus (1753) and is the type genus of the subfamily Periplocoideae. Periploca species are limited to the Old World in their distribution in both Africa and Asia, from the Cape Verde Islands and the Canary Islands to North China and from the Balkan Peninsula to Malawi in East Africa (Browicz, 1966;Verhoeven and Venter, 1994;Venter, 1997). This genus exhibits a wide range of growth habit from forest climber to scrambling or erect shrub. Periploca aphylla Decne is an erect leafless shrub (2-4 m high) with distribution from Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula to Afghanistan (Venter, 1997). Periploca angustifolia Labill. is an erect leafy shrub (0.5-1.5 m high) with distribution in northern Africa, southern Europe, and Syria.The Periplocoideae flowers are bisexual, actinomorphic, pentamerous (except for the bicarpellate gynoecium), semi-epigynous, and fleshy (Venter and Verhoeven, 1997, 2001). These small flowers are complex in structure, exhibiting a high degree of synorganization between androecia and gynoecia, typical for derived members of Apocynaceae s.l. These flowers are characterized by their unique, spathulate pollen translators, which assist in pollen transfer (Safwat, 1962;Schick, 1982;Verhoeven and Venter, 2001). The relatively soft translators consist of a spoon-shaped receptacle onto which pollen is shed at anthesis, an adhesive disc that attaches to the pollinator, and a stipe (stalk) connecting the two (Verhoeven and Venter, 1997;Endress and Bruyns, 2000; Endress, 2004). Schick (1982) introduced the term "scutellum" for the solid part of the adhesive disc, which proved to be very useful. Ontogeny of the translators revealed that the scutellum developed first and the stipe became attached to the disc before the adhesive substance was added to the lower side of the scutellum or the stipe elongated to connect the adhesive disc to the receptacle (Kunze, 1993). Venter and Verhoeven (1997) used the floral structures