Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands 107
umbelliform, spicate, or paniculiform cymes; involucre campanulate or cylindrical-campanulate, with
several series of phyllaries. Flowers bisexual; corollas actinomorphic, tubular, 5-lobed; stamens 5,
connate, the anthers sagittate; ovary inferior, the style slender with 2 stigmatic branches. Achenes with
10 ribs, glabrous, truncate; pappus composed exclusively of bristles, without scales. A genus of 40
species, distributed in the Neotropics.
1. Piptocarpha tetrantha Urb., Symb. Antill. 1:
457. 1899.
Fig. 39. A-C
Liana or clambering shrub, 10 m or more in
length. Stems pendulous, flexible, with numerous
white scales when young, slightly compressed,
striate and lenticellate when mature, attaining 2.5
cm in diameter. Leaves alternate, distichous;
blades 6-12 × 2-5 cm, oblong, oblanceolate, or
elliptical, coriaceous, the apex acute or obtuse,
the base unequal, obtuse-acute, the margins
smooth or denticulate; upper surface light green,
slightly shiny, with reticulate venation, covered
with small scales; lower surface completely
covered with white scales, venation prominent;
petioles 1-1.6 cm long, sulcate, whitish. Capitula
in cymes, forming a compound axillary or
8. PIPTOCOMA
terminal racemiform inflorescence; involucre
tubular, 7-8 mm long; phyllaries in 6 series, green,
pilose at the apex and ciliate at the margins, the
series gradually increasing in size toward the
interior. Corolla white, infundibuliform, 5-6 mm
long. Achenes cuneiform, cream-colored, 4-4.5
mm long; pappus of numerous cream-colored
bristles, ca. 5.8 mm long.
Phenology: Flowering and fruiting probably
throughout the year, but with more intensity from
January to March.
Status: Endemic to Puerto Rico, common.
Distribution: In forests and on forest margins
along the Cordillera Central and the Sierra de
Luquillo.
Public forests: Carite, Guilarte, El Yunque,
Maricao, and Toro Negro.
Woody shrubs, erect or clambering. Stems angular, tomentose, glabrescent. Leaves alternate,
petiolate; blades simple, the lower surface with stellate trichomes. Capitula homogamous, discoid,
with 4-12 flowers, clustered in short-pedunculate glomerules to form corymbiform cymes; involucre
cylindrical; the phyllaries, in several series, graduated; paleas present or not. Flowers bisexual; corollas
actinomorphic, infundibuliform, 5-lobed; stamens 5, the anthers connate, spurred; ovary inferior, the
style filiform, with 2 stigmatic branches, abaxially hispidulous. Fruit a turbinate achene, 5-angled,
glabrous; pappus composed of bristles and short, irregular scales. A genus of 18 species, distributed in
the Neotropics.
1. Piptocoma acevedoi Pruski, Novon 6: 98.
1996.
Fig. 40. A-H
Woody vine or clambering shrub, 3-7 m in
length. Stems much branched, pendulous,
tomentose. Leaves alternate; blades 2-9.5 × 1-4.3
cm, elliptical to obovate, chartaceous, the apex
acute, obtuse, or rounded, the base acute or
attenuate, the margins entire or undulate; upper
surface glandular-punctate; lower surface whitish,
densely stellate-tomentose; petioles 5-6 mm long,
slightly winged, whitish. Capitula 4-9, with 6-10
flowers each, in glomerules arranged in terminal
cymes; involucre cylindrical or campanulate, 5-
6.5 mm high, the phyllaries imbricate, in 3-4
graduated series, green, pubescent; paleas present
or not. Corollas pale violet, tubular, 5-6-lobed, 5-
6.3 mm long, with glandular papillae on the tube
and the apex of the lobes; anthers exserted, creamcolored;
style with two recurved stigmatic
branches, abaxially hispidulous. Achene turbinate,
with 10 slight ribs, glabrous, 2.5-4 m long, light
brown; pappus biseriate, the outer series of minute
irregular-dentiform scales, the inner series of
barbate bristles, 2.5-3.5 mm long.