Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands 237
diameter, densely spiny. Leaves bipinnate,
paripinnate, up to 60 cm long; pinnae 3-10 pairs,
opposite; leaflets 4-8 pairs per pinna, opposite,
3.5-7.7 × 2.5-3.7 cm, elliptical, ovate, or oblong,
chartaceous, glabrous or puberulent, the apex
obtuse or acute, mucronate, the base unequal,
rounded, or one side obtuse, the margins entire,
revolute, ciliate; upper surface glabrous, slightly
shiny; lower surface with the midvein prominent,
glabrous or puberulent; petiolules short,
puberulent; petioles and rachis spiny, puberulent;
stipules minute, deciduous. Flowers in axillary
racemes, up to 30 cm long; rachis tomentulose,
unarmed; bracts lanceolate, long-acuminate, ca.
1 cm long, deciduous. Calyx campanulate, 6-7
mm long, tomentose, the sepals reflexed, oblong.
Petals yellow, 6-7 mm long, spathulate; stamens
10, the filaments unequal, shorter than the petals;
ovary pubescent, the style and stigma glabrous.
Legumes broadly oblong, 6-12 × 3-6 cm, sparsely
spiny. Seeds ovoid or rounded, 1.5-2.5 cm long,
yellow-orange.
Phenology: Unknown.
Status: Native, uncommon.
Distribution: In the zone of mogotes. Also in
Cuba, Jamaica, the Bahamas, and Hispaniola.
Public Forest: Río Abajo.
2. SENNA
6. Caesalpinia portoricensis (Britton &
Wilson) Alain, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 90:
187. 1973.
Fig. 95. G-I
BASIONYM: Guilandina portoricensis Britton & Wilson
Scandent shrub attainig 6 m in length. Stems
cylindrical, striate, puberulent, unarmed. Leaves
bipinnate, paripinnate, ca. 15 cm long; pinnae 3-
5 pairs, opposite; leaflets 3-5 pairs per pinna,
opposite, 1-2 cm long, ovate or broadly elliptical,
chartaceous, glabrous, the apex rounded or
emarginate, the base unequal, rounded on one
side, obtuse on the other, the margins entire;
petioles and rachis puberulent, with some spines;
stipules deciduous. Legumes broadly oblong, 5-6
× cm, semi-woody, unarmed, dehiscent along one
suture. Seeds ovoid or rounded, 1.5-2 cm long,
dark brown to almost black, shiny, not striate.
Phenology: Collected in fruit during March.
Status: Endemic, very rare.
Distribution: Known from a single collection
from Salinas de Guánica.
Public Forest: Guánica.
Trees, erect, scandent, or clambering shrubs, or less frequently herbs. Stems unarmed. Leaves
pinnate; leaflets opposite; petioles and rachis sulcate, usually with a stipitate gland; stipules persistent.
Flowers bisexual, in axillary or terminal racemes or panicles or solitary; bracts minute to foliaceous;
pedicels elongate or short. Calyx of 5 more or less elongate sepals; corolla yellow, of 5 free petals,
unequal, unguiculate; stamens 10, three of which are usually smaller and sterile, the filaments flattened,
free, the anthers basifixed, dehiscent by terminal pores; ovary unilocular, superior, short-stipitate,
with numerous ovules. Fruit a legume of various forms, dehiscent or indehiscent; seeds numerous, of
various forms. A genus of about 260 species, predominantly neotropical.
Key to the species of Senna
1a. Leaves with 2-5(6) pairs of sub-fleshy leaflets ……..…...……...….....….1. S. bicapsularis
1b. Leaves with 2 pairs of chartaceous leaflets ……………………..……..………..2. S. nitida
1. Senna bicapsularis (L.) Roxb., Fl. Ind. ed.
2, 2: 342. 1832.
Fig. 96. A-F
BASIONYM: Cassia bicapsularis L.
SYNONYM: Adipera bicapsularis (L.) Britton & Rose
Hoja de sen, Sen del país, Stiver bush
Clambering shrub, with many lateral
branches, attainig 3 m in length. Stems slender,
cylindrical, smooth, grayish or brown, with some