Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

148
Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands
although in the Americas it apparently does not
frequently produce fruits.
Phenology: Flowering sporadically throughout
the year.
Status: Exotic, cultivated and naturalized,
locally common.
Distribution: Native of Asia, but naturalized
in the Cordillera Central in Puerto Rico in the
Villalba area (Cerro Maravilla sector) and
throughout the New World. This species seems
not to have been naturalized in Puerto Rico at the
end of the nineteenth century, because it was only
known from a single collection made by Sintenis
in 1886 from a plant cultivated in the Adjuntas
area. At present this species is naturalized along
Highway 143 in the Toro Negro Forest Reserve.
It seems to reproduce in Puerto Rico exclusively
by vegetative means, since it has never been
collected with fruits.
Public forest: Toro Negro.