Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands 109
Phenology: Flowering and fruiting from
October to January.
Status: Endemic to Puerto Rico, extremely
rare.
9. PSEUDOGYNOXYS
Distribution: Known from two localities in
Puerto Rico, in forests on limestone or serpentine
substrate.
Public forests: Guajataca and Maricao.
Twining, herbaceous vines. Stems striate, puberulous. Leaves alternate, petiolate; blades simple,
entire or serrate. Capitula heterogamous, radiate, long- pedunculate, with numerous flowers, solitary
or in terminal cymes; involucre campanulate or hemispherical, canaliculate; phyllaries uniseriate,
oblong. Disc flowers bisexual; corollas actinomorphic, yellow, long-tubular, 5-lobed; stamens 5, the
anthers connate, sagittate; ovary inferior, the style filiform, with 2 hirsute stigmatic branches on the
distal portion. Ray flowers pistillate; corollas zygomorphic, ligulate, the ligules orange. Fruit a cylindrical
achene; pappus of numerous bristles, without scales. A genus of 14 species, distributed in the Neotropics.
1. Pseudogynoxys chenopodioides (Kunth)
Cabrera, Brittonia 7: 54. 1950.
Fig. 39. D-G
BASIONYM: Senecio chenopodioides Kunth
SYNONYM: Senecio confusus Britten
Herbaceous vine, twining, 10-12 m in length.
Stems striate, subcylindrical, glabrous or
puberulous. Leaves alternate; blades 5-8 × 2.5-5
cm, lanceolate, membranaceous, the apex
acuminate or acute, the base truncate, obtuse, or
slightly cordiform, frequently unequal, the
margins dentate-mucronate; upper surface dull,
glabrous; lower surface dull, glabrous, with
prominent venation; petioles 1.5-2.2 cm long.
Capitula 2-6, pedunculate, in terminal
corymbiform cymes; peduncles 2-5 cm long,
puberulous; involucre crateriform, ca. 6 mm long,
10. SALMEA
the phyllaries green, lanceolate, ca. 4 mm long.
Disc flowers with yellow tubular corollas, 9-10
mm long; stigmatic branches yellow. Ray flowers
with orange corollas, ligulate, the ligule elliptical,
retuse at the apex, 2-2.5 cm long. Achenes
turbinate, hispidulous, ca. 4 mm long; pappus of
numerous white bristles, 5-7 mm long, scabrous.
Phenology: Collected in flower and fruit from
January to April.
Status: Naturalized exotic, uncommon.
Distribution: Exotic species, cultivated for its
showy flowers; naturalized in more or less moist
areas in Puerto Rico. Native to Central America,
cultivated and naturalized in the tropics and
subtemperate climates. Also on St. Croix and St.
Thomas.
Public forests: El Yunque, Río Abajo, and
Vega.
Erect or clambering shrubs. Stems striate, cylindrical. Leaves opposite, petiolate; blades simple,
entire or dentate. Capitula homogamous, discoid, with numerous flowers, in terminal, pedunculate
cymes; phyllaries in 1-6 series; receptacle conical, paleate. Flowers bisexual, each subtended by a
palea; corollas actinomorphic, tubular, 5-lobed; stamens 5, the anthers connate, sagittate; ovary inferior,
the style filiform, with 2 papillose-hirtellous stigmatic branches. Fruit a compressed, cuneiform achene;
pappus of 2 short bristles. A genus of 2-4 species, distributed in the Neotropics.
1. Salmea scandens (L.) DC., Cat. Hort. Monspel.
141. 1813.
Fig. 41. A-C
BASIONYM: Bidens scandens L.
Bejuco de miel, Bejuco de muela
Clambering shrub, 2-3 m in length. Stems
striate, cylindrical, glabrous or puberulous. Leaves
opposite; blades 4.5-9.5 × 1.7-4.2 cm, lanceolate,
chartaceous, the apex acute or acuminate, the base
obtuse, attenuate, or rounded, the margins