Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina Central-west (Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso) Southeast (São Paulo) South (Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina) Phytogeographic Domains Amazon Rainforest, Atlantic Rainforest, Pampa, Pantanal Vegetation Type Grassland, Ombrophyllous Forest (Tropical Rain Forest)
A woody tropical vine favored for its five-petaled yellow flowers and reddish-pink immature fruits. The first fruits appear shortly after the initial flush of blossoms and ripen on the vine as the plant continues to flower, such that flowers and fruits can be observed together. Resembling the fruits of maples (though in an entirely different plant order, nevermind family or genus), each fruit is a schizocarp consisting of up to three mericarps if pollination and fertilization are completely successful. Each mericarp is a samara (winged achene, or dry solid fruit with a wing) containing a single seed. As the fruits mature, the schizocarps become dry and brittle. The samaras are eventually dispersed by wind (UBC Botanical Garden).
Heteropterys glabra has been grown as an ornamental in the southern, mid-western, and eastern United States and is currently offered by several nurseries. Where it is native it is used as a medicine (soporific, anxiolytic) and my be cultivated there as well.