Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands 133
green, strigulose-puberulous, with the venation
slightly prominent; petioles appressed-pubescent,
4-7 mm long. Flowers few, sessile, arranged in
short axillary cymes; peduncle < 6 mm long.
Calyx green, turbinate, strigulose, 2-2.5 mm long;
corolla white, infundibuliform, glabrous, ca. 4 mm
long, the lobes ovate to oblong, almost as long as
the tube; stamens and stigmas inserted. Drupe red,
ovoid, ca. 3 mm in diameter, with the persistent
accrescent calyx covering the lower 1/3 of the
fruit.
Phenology: Collected in flower from October
to January and in fruit from November to January.
Status: Endemic, listed in the Federal Register
of the United States as an endangered species.
Locally common at the base of mogotes.
Distribution: Along the banks of rivers and
streams or in the interior of forests on substrates
of limestone (mogotes) or serpentine.
Public forests: Maricao, Río Abajo, and Susúa.
2. Cordia polycephala (Lam.) I.M. Johnst., J.
Arnold Arbor. 16: 33. 1935.
Fig. 49. G-L
BASIONYM: Varronia polycephala Lam.
SYNONYM: Varronia corymbosa (L.) Desv.
Basora, Palo de perico, Saragüero, Black sage
Woody shrub, clambering, up to 5 m in length.
Stems pubescent when young, cylindrical,
attaining 1.5 cm in diameter. Leaves alternate;
blades 4-15 × 2-5.5 cm, ovate, lanceolate, or
2. TOURNEFORTIA
elliptical, coriaceous, the apex acute or acuminate,
the base obtuse or rounded, sometimes unequal,
the margins serrate; upper surface scabrous, the
venation sunken; lower surface pale green, more
or less pubescent, with prominent reticulate
venation; petioles pubescent, 5-10 mm long.
Flowers numerous, sessile, arranged in terminal
or axillary paniculate or corymbose heads. Calyx
yellowish green, crateriform, pubescent, 2.5-3 mm
long; corolla white, campanulate, 4-5 mm long,
the lobes much shorter than the tube, the tube
pubescent inside; stamens and stigmas inserted.
Drupe red, globose, 3-4 mm in diameter,
completely covered by the accrescent calyx.
Phenology: Flowering and fruiting throughout
the year, particularly in June and July.
Status: Native, very common.
Distribution: In weedy areas and along paths,
at lower and middle elevations. Also on Vieques,
St. Croix, St. Thomas, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda;
Hispaniola, the Lesser Antilles, and northern
South America.
Public forests: Cambalache, Carite, Ceiba, El
Yunque, Guajataca, Guánica, Maricao, Río Abajo,
Susúa, Toro Negro, and Tortuguero.
Commentary: Cordia wagnerorum Howard
was originally described as a clambering shrub;
nevertheless, the clambering habit seems to be
the exception to the rule, since I have only
observed this species as an erect shrub. For this
reason, this species has been excluded from the
present work.
Vines, lianas, shrubs, or trees. Leaves alternate, petiolate; blades simple; stipules absent. Flowers
actinomorphic, bisexual, in terminal scorpioid cymes. Calyx crateriform, with 5 deep lobes; corolla
hypocrateriform, the tube slightly broadened at the base, the lobes reflexed; stamens 5, inserted on the
corolla tube, shorter than the corolla; ovary superior, with 2 carpels, each carpel with 2 uniovulate
chambers, the style simple, bilobed. Fruit a fleshy drupe, globose or 2- or 4- lobed, with 1-4 pyrenes. A
genus of about 150 species of pantropical distribution.
Key to the species of Tournefortia
1a. Leaves rigid-coriaceous, scabrous on the upper surface ................................................. 5. T. scabra
1b. Leaves chartaceous or coriaceous, not rigid, pubescent, hirsute or glabrous on the upper surface,
not scabrous ........................................................................................................................................ 2
2a. Twining vines; fruits white ................................................................................................................ 3
2b. Clambering subshrubs; fruits orange .......................................................................... 3. T. maculata