Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

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Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands
or white, the standard ovate or rounded, unguiculate, the wings and the keel of similar size, shorter
than the standard; stamens 10, diadelphous or monadelphous; ovary superior, almost sessile, with
numerous ovules, the style curved, pubescent, the stigma capitate or truncate. Fruit a linear legume,
flattened, with the margins ribbed, dehiscent by valves that twist on drying, not septate between the
seeds; seeds numerous, small, oblong. A genus of about 45 species, of pantropical distribution.
Key to the species of Centrosema
1a. Corolla pink-burgundy; standard 4.5-6 cm wide; legume 7-10 mm wide ….1. C. plumieri
1b. Corolla pale violet; standard 2-4.5 cm wide; legume 4-6 mm wide……………….…….. 2
2a. Lobes of the calyx very unequal, the lateral ones deltate, as long as the tube of the calyx, the central
ones subulate, much longer than the tube; legume ca. 6 mm wide................................. 2. C. pubescens
2b. Lobes of the calyx subequal, subulate, longer than the tube of the calyx; legume ca. 4 mm wide
...................………………………………………………..………………….. 3. C. virginianum
1. Centrosema plumieri (Turp. ex Pers.) Benth.,
Comm. Leg. Gen. 54. 1837.
Fig. 100. A-F
BASIONYM: Clitoria plumieri Turp. ex Pers.
SYNONYM: Bradburva plumieri (Turp. ex Pers.) Kuntze
Flor de conchitas
Non-woody vine, twining, attainig 5 m in
length. Stems cylindrical, green, smooth, glabrous
or puberulent. Leaves alternate, trifoliolate;
leaflets 4-11 × 3-8 cm, the apex acute, obtuse, or
short-acuminate; margins undulate; upper surface
slightly shiny, with the venation sunken,
puberulent; lower surface dull, puberulent, with
prominent venation; terminal leaflet deltate,
ovate, or elliptical, with the base cuneate or
cuneate-rounded; lateral leaflets oblong or
elliptical, with the base asymmetrical, roundedtruncate;
petiolules swollen, 3-4 mm long; petioles
6-10 cm long, slender, glabrous, with the base
swollen; stipels linear, up to 10 mm long; stipules
oblong-lanceolate, 10-12 mm long, with the
venation conspicuously parallel. Flowers solitary
or in pairs at the end of long axillary peduncles;
bracteoles ovate, convex, 10-14 mm long. Calyx
campanulate, 5-8 mm long, glabrous, with three
lobes, ca. 2.5 mm long; corolla pink to cardinal
red, abaxially appressed-pubescent, the standard
4.5-6 cm wide, rounded, cardinal red in the center
and pink or whitish toward the edges, the wings
ca. 3 × 1.5 cm, with the apex cardinal red, the
keel white, ca. 3.5 cm long. Legume flattened,
linear, 10-15 × 0.6-1 cm, the apex longacuminate,
the margins thickened.
Phenology: Flowering from October to
January and fruiting from January to February.
Status: Apparently native, relatively common.
Distribution: In disturbed areas, such as
roadsides and pastures, at lower elevations in
moist areas. Throughout the Neotropics,
introduced in Africa and tropical Asia.
Public Forests: Guajataca and Río Abajo.
2. Centrosema pubescens Benth., Ann. Wiener
Mus. Naturgesh. 2: 119. 1837.
Fig. 100. G-I
SYNONYM: Bradburya pubescens (Benth.) Kuntze
Flor de pito, Flor de conchitas
Slightly woody vine, twining, attainig 8 m in
length. Stems slender, appressed-pubescent.
Leaves alternate, trifoliolate; leaflets ovate,
oblong, or elliptical, 3-8 × 1.6-4.5 cm, the apex
acute or obtuse, the base rounded or obtuse, the
margins entire; both surfaces glabrous to
pubescent; upper surface with the venation
sunken; lower surface with prominent venation;
petiolules thickened, pubescent; petioles sulcate,
almost quadrangular, 2-5 cm long, puberulent;
stipels subulate, 2-2.5 mm long; stipules ovate,
2-4 mm long.
Flores solitary or in pairs at the end of
bracteate, axillary peduncles, 5-10 cm long; bracts
oblong, slightly longer than the calyx. Calyx
asymmetrically campanulate, the tubular portion
5-7 mm long, with five very unequal lobes, the
lateral ones deltate, ca. 1 mm long, the central