Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

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Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands
2. ARRABIDAEA
Lianas or less frequently small trees or shrubs. Stems quadrangular or cylindrical; cross section of
the mature stem with a cross of 4 arms formed by phloem tissue; interpetiolar zones usually glandular;
pseudostipules small and inconspicuous. Leaves opposite, usually 3-foliolate, with the terminal leaflet
replaced by a long, filiform, spiral-shaped tendril. Flowers produced in long axillary or terminal panicles.
Calyx crateriform, simple, truncate, bilabiate or minutely 5-denticulate at the apex; corolla reddish,
pink, or violet, hypocrateriform, infundibuliform, or campanulate, pubescent outside; stamens 4,
didynamous; ovary superior, with 2 locules and a crateriform disc at the base. Fruit a linear capsule,
compressed, with the valves parallel to the septum; seeds with 2 hyaline wings. A neotropical genus of
about 70 species.
1. Arrabidaea chica (Humb. & Bonpl.) Verl.,
Rev. Hort. 40: 154. 1868.
Fig. 43. D-G
BASIONYM: Bignonia chica Humb. & Bonpl.
SYNONYM: Adenocalymna portoricensis A. Stahl
Liana that climbs by tendrils and attains 15
m in length. Stems quadrangular, striate, glabrous,
4-sulcate, up to 6 cm in diameter; cross section of
the mature stem with a cross of 4 dark arms,
formed by the phloem tissue. Pseudostipules
inconspicuous. Leaves turning reddish on drying,
2-3-foliolate, the terminal leaflet replaced by a
simple, deciduous, filiform, spiral-shaped tendril;
lateral leaflets 3.4-11 × 1.5-5 cm, ovate,
chartaceous, glabrous or with some scattered
hairs, the apex acuminate or acute, the base
truncate, rounded, or cordiform, the margins
entire; lower surface with a prominent midvein;
petioles 1.5-7 cm long, petiolules 0.3-4.5 cm long,
both cylindrical and turning blackish on drying.
3. CYDISTA
Flowers fragrant, produced in terminal panicles.
Calyx simple, 3-5 mm long, puberulent,
crateriform, truncate or minutely denticulate;
corolla violet, zygomorphic, infundibuliform, 1.5-
3 cm long, with the lobes rounded; stamens and
staminodia inserted, borne near the base of the
corolla; ovary cylindrical, lepidote, with a small
annular disc at the base. Capsules linear or
narrowly elliptical, 12-23 cm long, smooth,
glabrous, semi-woody, acute or obtuse at both
ends; seeds numerous, 7-9 mm long, the wings
lateral.
Phenology: Collected in fruit in March.
Status: Native, rare, probably extirpated in
Puerto Rico, since it has not been collected there
in more than a century.
Distribution: Known from Puerto Rico from
two collections made in 1885 in Bayamón, Stahl
79 and Sintenis 1096. Also on St. John;
throughout the Neotropics.
Lianas with tendrils. Stems cylindrical or quadrangular; cross section of the mature stem with a
cross of 8 dark arms formed by the phloem tissue; interpetiolar zone not glandular; pseudostipules
present or absent. Leaves opposite, simple or 2-foliolate, with a filiform, terminal tendril. Flowers in
terminal or axillary racemes or panicles. Calyx crateriform, simple, truncate or slightly bilobate at the
apex; corolla white, pink, lilac, or purple, tubular or infundibuliform; stamens 4, didynamous; ovary
superior, cylindrical, with 2 locules, without a disc. Fruit a linear capsule, compressed, with the valves
parallel to the septum; seeds compressed, with 2 brown wings. A neotropical genus of 6 species.
1. Cydista aequinoctialis (L.) Miers, Proc. Roy.
Hort. Soc. London 3: 191. 1863.
Fig. 3. B; 44. A-D
BASIONYM: Bignonia aequinoctialis L.
Bejuco blanco, Liana de la sierra,
Guard wiss
Liana that climbs by tendrils and attains 15
m in length. Stems cylindrical, up to 6 cm in
diameter, the bark grayish, vertically striate; cross