Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands 215
1. Melothria pendula L., Sp. Pl. 35. 1753.
Fig. 86. A-F
SYNONYMS: Bryonia guadalupensis Spreng.
Melothria guadalupensis (Spreng.) Cogn.
Pepinillo cimarrón
Herbaceous vine, much branched, which
climbs by tendrils, attaining 1-2 (4) m in length.
Stems slender, 2-3 mm in diameter, green, slightly
striate, puberulous and with some minute hairs;
tendrils axillary, simple, filiform, 6-9 cm long.
Leaves alternate; blades ovate or 3-5-lobed,
membranaceous, the apex acute or acuminate,
mucronate, the base lyrate or cordiform, the
margins crenate, repand, or denticulate; upper
surface green, shiny, scabrid, with the venation
flat; lower surface light green, dull, scabrid, with
the venation slightly prominent; petioles shorter
than the blade, sulcate. Staminate and pistillate
flowers in the same raceme; peduncles 2-3 cm
11. MOMORDICA
long. Calyx yellowish green, campanulate, ca. 5
mm long; corolla pale yellow, campanulate, ca. 5
mm long, with 5 deep lobes; stamens subsessile,
adnate to the corolla tube, the anthers free, the
pistil with an annular disc at the base. Berry ovoid,
smooth, 1.5-1.8 cm long, olive green when ripe;
seeds numerous, elliptical or ovate, ca. 5 mm long,
not arillate.
Phenology: Flowering and fruiting throughout
the year.
Status: Native, very common.
Distribution: In disturbed areas such as
pastures, at upper to lower elevations. Also on
Vieques, St. Croix, St. John, St. Thomas, Tortola,
and Virgin Gorda; throughout the Antilles, the
Bahamas, the southern United States, and
continental tropical America.
Public forests: El Yunque, Maricao, Río Abajo,
Toro Negro, and Vega.
Herbaceous vines, monoecious, with axillary tendrils, without latex. Leaves alternate, petiolate;
blades simple, entire or palmatilobed; stipules absent. Flowers unisexual, actinomorphic; calyx
campanulate or infundibuliform, with 5 minute lobes; corolla campanulate or rotate. Staminate flowers
in axillary racemes or solitary; stamens 3, the filaments free, the anthers free or concrescent; pistillodes
absent or glandular. Pistillate flowers solitary, on long peduncles with foliaceous bracts; staminodia
absent; ovary inferior, ellipsoid, tricarpellate, with numerous horizontal ovules, the style terminal,
simple, the stigmas 3, linear, bilobate. Fruit a fleshy capsule, which opens by 3 valves; seeds numerous,
compressed, arillate. A predominantly African genus of about 40 species.
1. Momordica charantia L., Sp. Pl. 1009. 1753.
Fig. 86. G-K
Cundeamor, Jumbee pumpkin,
Maiden apple, Old maid
Herbaceous vine, creeping or climbing by
axillary tendrils, attaining 8 m in length. Stems
green, slender, subcylindrical, striate, villous;
tendrils simple, 9-11 cm long. Leaves alternate;
blades 3-11 × 3-10 cm, 5-7-lobed, membranaceous
to chartaceous, the apex obtuse or acute, the base
cordiform, the margins deeply undulate or dentate;
upper surface dark green, dull, puberulous; lower
surface yellowish green, dull, with prominent
venation, puberulous; petioles slender, sulcate or
slightly winged, villous, 3-6 cm long. Flowers
solitary, axillary; peduncle elongate, with a foliose
bract below the middle. Calyx yellowish green,
campanulate, 10-12 mm long, the lobes
lanceolate; corolla pale yellow, rotate, ca. 3.5 cm
in diameter. Capsule ellipsoid-angular to fusiform,
muricate, 3-5 cm long, changing from green to
yellow-orange when mature, dehiscent at the apex
by 3 valves; seeds pendulous, compressed, covered
by a red and fleshy aril.
Phenology: Flowering and fruiting throughout
the year.
Status: Exotic, naturalized, very common.
Distribution: On fences and roadsides and in
coffee plantations and pastures at middle and
lower elevations. Also on Culebra, Mona, Vieques,
St. Croix, St. John, St. Thomas, Tortola, and
Virgin Gorda; native to China and Asia but found
naturalized throughout the tropics and subtropics
of the New World.