Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands 159
7a. Fruit covered by the accrescent, overlapping sepals; corolla violet-pink, 6-8 cm long; fruit fibrous,
tardily dehiscent by the dissolution of the pericarp .................................................... 9. Stictocardia
7b. Fruit exposed, the sepals although accrescent, not covering the fruit; corolla white or yellow, 2.5-3
cm long; fruit crustaceous, indehiscent or irregularly dehiscent ..................................................... 8
8a. Fruit ellipsoid, indehiscent, 1-1.2 cm long, with only one seed inside; corolla white with the center
violet ................................................................................................................................. 10. Turbina
8b. Fruit ovoid, irregularly indehiscent, 1.5-2.5 cm long, seeds generally 4; corolla yellow .................
................................................................................................................... 6. Merremia (in part)
9a. Leaves narrowly lanceolate or linear, 0.5-6 mm wide, with the base hastate or auriculate; corolla
yellow, 1-2 cm long ..................................................................................................... 11. Xenostegia
9b. Leaves of diverse forms, if lanceolate and hastate then with the corolla white, 3-4 cm long. ..... 10
10a. Anthers twisted after opening; sepals accrescent at the base of the fruit; leaves usually palmately
compound (except in the case of M. umbellata); corolla yellow or white with a purple center
.................................................................................................................. 6. Merremia (in part)
10b. Anthers straight (not twisted) after opening; sepals generally not accrescent; leaves simple, or if
palmately compound then with the corolla violet-pink or red ........................................ 4. Ipomoea
11a. Stigmas filiform; corolla white ................................................................................. 3. Convolvulus
11b. Stigmas oblong; corolla blue, white, or red ...........................................................5. Jacquemontia
1. ANISEIA
Herbaceous vines, twining, producing watery latex. Leaves alternate; blades simple; stipules absent.
Flowers 5-merous, bisexual, actinomorphic, solitary or in axillary dichasia; bracts 2, on the distal
portion of the peduncle. Calyx of unequal sepals, the 2 outer ones much broader, concealing the inner
ones; corolla white, infundibuliform, the limb 5-dentate or entire, with 5 lines of pubescence outside;
stamens 5, shorter than the corolla, the filaments adnate to the corolla; ovary superior, glabrous, bilocular,
each locule with two ovules, the style solitary, the stigma bilobed. Fruit a globose capsule that opens
along 4 valves, covered by the accrescent sepals; seeds 4 per fruit. A genus of neotropical origin, of 5
species, of which one has been introduced into the Old World tropics.
1. Aniseia martinicensis (Jacq.) Choisy, Mém.
Soc. Hist. Nat. Genève 8: 66. 1837.
Fig. 63. A-D
BASIONYM: Convolvulus martinicensis Jacq.
Herbaceous vine, twining, climbing, or
creeping, 2-4 m in length. Stems glabrous or
puberulous when young, with watery latex. Leaves
alternate; blades simple, 4-9 × 2.4-3.7 cm,
narrowly lanceolate, elliptical, or oblanceolate,
membranaceous, the apex obtuse and mucronate,
the base obtuse, acute, or attenuate, the margins
entire or crenate; upper surface dull, glabrous,
granular, with the midvein slightly prominent;
lower surface pale green, glabrous, dull, with the
venation slightly prominent and puberulous;
petioles puberulous, slender, 1-2 cm long. Flowers
solitary, axillary; peduncles 3-5 cm long, with a
pair of minute bracteoles on the distal portion;
pedicel ca. 1 cm long. Calyx green, of 5 unequal
sepals, ovate, acuminate, the two outer ones 12-
17 mm long, broader than the 3 inner ones; corolla
white, campanulate, 2.5-3 cm long; stamens not
exserted. Capsules 4-valvate, ovoid, 1.3-1.5 cm
long, partially covered by the accrescent sepals;
seeds dark brown to almost black, ca. 6.5 cm long,
with two sides flat and one convex, sparsely
covered with minute, squamose hairs, especially
on the angles.