Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands 147
1. Capparis flexuosa (L.) L., Sp. Pl. ed. 2, 722.
1762.
Fig. 56. A-E
BASIONYM: Morisonia flexuosa L.
SYNONYM: Capparis saligna Vahl
Burro, Palo de burro, Palinguam, Palawang,
Black witty, Bottle wiss, Goat wiss,
Limber caper
Woody shrub, erect or clambering, much
branched from the base, 2-10 m in length.
Branches pendulous, glabrous, light brown,
smooth, attaining 20 cm in diameter at the base.
Leaves alternate; blades 4-10 × 1.5-2.5 cm, oblong
or linear, coriaceous, glabrous, the apex rounded
or emarginate, the base rounded, the margins
entire, revolute; upper surface yellowish green,
shiny or dull; lower surface pale green, dull, with
a prominent midvein; petioles 5-8 mm long, light
brown. Flowers fragrant, nocturnal, clustered in
13. Family CAPRIFOLIACEAE
1. LONICERA
terminal corymbs. Calyx yellowish green, of 4
imbricate sepals, rounded, fleshy, 6-10 mm long;
petals green or yellowish green, 4, elliptical, 1.5-
3 cm long, concave; stamens numerous, white,
4-6 cm long. Follicles fleshy, cylindrical-torulose,
6-8 cm long, light brown, with longitudinal
dehiscence, the inner walls red-orange; seeds
pendulous from the parietal placenta, oblong, ca.
1 cm long, with a white, fleshy covering.
Phenology: Flowering from March to October
and fruiting in August and September.
Status: Native, very common.
Distribution: In coastal forests and thickets
or in semi-humid forests on karst limestone. Also
on Culebra, Desecheo, Vieques, Mona, and the
Virgin Islands; the Antilles and from the United
States (Florida) to South America.
Public forests: Ceiba, Guánica, Mona,
Piñones, and Susúa.
Vines, shrubs, or trees. Leaves opposite or rarely in whorls of 3, sessile or petiolate; blades simple;
stipules absent. Flowers bisexual, 5-merous, 2 or 3 in axillary cymes. Calyx tubular, 5-dentate or rarely
truncate at the apex, adnate to the ovary; corolla zygomorphic, tubular, infundibuliform, or campanulate,
with the limb bilabiate, with 2 long lobes and 3 short lobes; stamens 5, subequal, exserted; ovary
inferior, with 2-3(-5) locules, with axile or rarely parietal placentation, the ovules pendulous, 3-8 per
locule. Fruit a fleshy berry, with few ovate seeds. A genus of about 200 species, the majority of the
Northern Hemisphere.
1. Lonicera japonica Thunb. ex Murray, Syst.
Veg. (ed. 14), 216. 1784.
Fig. 57. A-E
Madreselva, Honeysuckle
Woody vine, twining or clambering, much
branched, 5-8 m in length. Stems strong, flexible,
cylindrical, pilose, brown, smooth. Leaves
opposite; blades 4-7.5 × 1.2-3 cm, lanceolate,
oblong-lanceolate, or elliptic-lanceolate,
chartaceous, glabrous except for some hairs on
the midvein, the apex acute or obtuse, abruptly
acuminate or mucronate, the base rounded,
subtruncate, or obtuse, the margins entire,
revolute, ciliate; upper surface dark green, dull;
lower surface pale green, dull, with a prominent
midvein; petioles 5-12 mm long, brown,
pubescent. Flowers fragrant, sessile, in pairs at
the end of short axillary branches; bracts 2, at the
base of each flower, ovate, rounded, ca. 0.7 mm
long, ciliate. Calyx green, tubular, ca. 3 mm long,
the sepals 5, subulate, ca. 1 mm long; corolla
white, turning yellowish when mature, 2.2-2.5 cm
long, infundibuliform, the tube puberulous
outside; the limb with 5 lobes, one of which is
longer (ca. 2.2 cm) and free; stamens 4, exserted;
style exserted, with the stigmatic surface
claviform. Berry black, 6-7 mm long, ellipsoid,