Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands 239
lenticels. Leaves alternate, bipinnate, 3-8 cm long;
leaflets 2-5 pairs, 1.5-4 × 1-2.5 cm, obovate to
oblanceolate, sub-fleshy, glabrous, the apex
truncate, emarginate and usually mucronate, the
base asymmetrical, cuneate or subcordiform, the
margins entire or slightly undulate; upper surface
dark green, dull, sometimes glaucous; lower
surface pale green, dull, with the midvein slightly
prominent, glaucous; petiolules ca. 2 mm long;
rachis sulcate, slender, with a stipitate, ellipsoid
gland between the basal pair of leaflets; petioles
short, glabrous or puberulent, with the base
swollen; stipules minute, lanceolate, early
deciduous. Inflorescences of axillary racemes,
few-flowered; pedicels 1-3.5 cm long, articulate;
bracts lanceolate, deciduous. Calyx forming a
turbinate hypanthium, 1.5-3.4 mm long, the sepals
5, oblong-elliptical, yellow, 5-8 mm long,
concave, glabrous. Petals yellow, concave, 1-1.5
cm long, cuneate at the base, the central, basal
petal obovate, the lateral ones oblong, shorter than
the central, basal petal; stamens 10, dimorphic, 3
of which are longer and fertile, the remaining ones
sterile; ovary glabrous, the style curved. Fruit an
oblong, cylindrical legume, 8-19 × 1-2 cm,
septate, indehiscent. Seeds numerous, 4-6 mm
long, ellipsoid, brown, shiny.
Phenology: Flowering and fruiting from
November to May.
Status: Native, rather common.
Distribution: In disturbed areas, usually on
roadsides and in pastures, at lower elevations. Also
on Culebra, Vieques, Anegada, St. Croix, St.
Thomas, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda; the Antilles,
tropical continental America, and Bermuda. Has
been introduced into the Old World tropics.
Public Forest: El Yunque.
2. Senna nitida (L.C. Rich.) Irwin & Barneby,
Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 35: 159. 1982.
Fig. 96. G-J
BASIONYM: Cassia nitida L.C. Rich.
SYNONYMS: Chamaefistula antillana Britton & Rose
Cassia antillana (Britton & Rose) Alain
Hediondilla
Clambering or scandent shrub, which attains
2-5(10) m in length. Stems up to 2.5 cm in
diameter, grayish, almost cylindrical; branches
green, striate, glabrous or puberulent. Leaves
alternate, pinnate; leaflets 4, opposite, ovate or
elliptical, 6-12 × 2-4.5 cm, the distal pair larger,
the apex acuminate, the base unequal or rounded,
the margins slightly undulate, revolute; upper
surface shiny, glabrous or puberulent, with the
midvein sunken; lower surface glabrous, yellowish
green, dull, punctate; petiolules swollen; rachis
with a linear stipitate gland between the leaflets;
petioles longer than the rachis, sulcate, swollen
at the base. Inflorescences of axillary racemes,
produced toward the end of the branches. Sepals
oblong or ovate, ca. 5 mm long. Petals yellow,
rounded, 1-2 cm long. Legume 10-18 × 1-1.5 cm,
almost cylindrical, compressed along the suture,
fleshy, producing a yellow exudate, oily and
rancid. Seeds ca. 10 mm long, flattened, elliptical.
Phenology: Flowering from October to
December.
Status: Native, relatively common.
Distribution: On roadsides and in forests and
pastures, in moist areas, at middle and lower
elevations. Also on St. Thomas and Tortola; St.
Kitts and probably Haiti.
Public Forests: Carite, El Yunque, Guajataca,
and Maricao.
Reference: Irwin, H. and R. Barneby. 1982. The American Cassiinae. A synoptical revision of
Leguminosae tribe Cassieae subtribe Cassiinae in the New World. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. Vol. 35:
1-918.
24b. Subfamily FABOIDEAE
Key to the genera
1a. Leaves unifoliolate or pinnately compound. …………………………………………..……….2
1b. Leaves trifoliolate………………………………………………………………………….……8