Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands 251
ones subulate or linear, ca. 6 mm long; corolla
pale violet, lavender, or less frequently yellowish
or whitish with purple lines, the standard 2-4.5
cm wide, abaxially velvety, the wings and the keel
shorter than the standard. Legume linear, 10-20
× 0.6 cm, the apex acuminate, with the margins
ribbed, dehiscent by valves that twist on drying.
Seeds 8-15 per fruit, oblong-quadrangular, dark
brown, dull, 5-6 mm long.
Phenology: Flowering predominantly during
the months from November to December, but may
be found in flower from September to March.
Status: Native, very common.
Distribution: In disturbed areas, such as
abandoned fields, pastures, or roadsides, at middle
and lower elevations. Native to tropical America,
introduced in Asia and Africa.
Public Forests: Maricao, Río Abajo, and
Susúa.
3. Centrosema virginianum (L.) Benth., Comm.
Legum. Gen. 56. 1837.
Fig. 100. J-M
BASIONYM: Clitoria virginiana L.
SYNONYM: Bradburya virginiana (L.) Kuntze
Conchita de Virginia, Flor de conchitas, Blue
wiss, Butterfly pea
Slightly woody vine, twining, attainig 6-7 m
in length. Stems slender, strong, cylindrical, finely
pubescent. Leaves alternate, trifoliolate; leaflets
2.5-7 × 0.5-2 cm (the terminal one longer than
the lateral ones), lanceolate, oblong, ovate, or
linear, chartaceous, the apex acute or obtuse,
mucronate, the base cuneate to rounded, the
6. CLITORIA
margins entire or crenate, ciliate, both surfaces
glabrous or puberulent; lower surface with
prominent venation; rachis 0.7-1.5 cm long;
petioles 2.3-2.8 cm long, slender, sulcate,
thickened; stipels narrowly subulate, 4-5 mm
long; stipules subulate, 3-5 mm long, persistent,
markedly veined. Flowers 1-4, at the end of a
bracteate axillary peduncle; bracts ovate or ovatelanceolate,
persistent, notably veined. Calyx
green, asymmetrically campanulate, with five
subulate, subequal lobes, the tubular portion ca.
2 mm long, the lateral lobes ca. 5 mm long, the
central lobes 7-8 mm long; corolla lilac or almost
white, the standard broadly ovate, 3-4 cm wide,
white in the center with purple lines, the wings
and keel unguiculate, much shorter than the
standard. Legume linear, 10-13 × 0.3-0.4 cm, the
apex acuminate, the margins ribbed, dehiscent by
valves that twist on drying. Seeds numerous, 3-4
mm long, oblong, brown or light brown with dark
brown spots.
Phenology: Flowering and fruiting almost
throughout the year.
Status: Native, very common.
Distribution: In disturbed areas such as
roadsides, fences, and pastures, in thickets and
dry forests, usually along the coasts, in the zone
of mogotes, and in areas of the Cordillera Central.
Also on Culebra, Culebrita, Icacos, Mona,
Vieques, and the Virgin Islands; throughout the
Antilles and from southern North America to
Argentina. Introduced in Africa.
Public Forests: Cambalache, Ceiba, El
Yunque, Guánica, Maricao, Mona, Piñones, Río
Abajo, Susúa, Toro Negro, and Tortuguero.
Twining herbaceous or woody vines, trees, or shrubs. Leaves alternate, trifoliolate or imparipinnate;
leaflets 3-9, opposite; stipels present; stipules minute, persistent. Flowers solitary or grouped in axillary
racemes; bracteoles appressed to the calyx, persistent. Calyx campanulate, with 5 equal or almost
equal lobes; corolla blue-violet, white, yellow, or red, the standard rounded, rugose, longer than the
wings and the keel, the wings longer than the keel; stamens 10, diadelphous or monadelphous; ovary
superior, stipitate, the style curved, pubescent, the stigma truncate. Fruit a linear or oblong legume,
flattened, dehiscent along both sutures, not septate between the seeds; seeds few, rounded to oblong. A
genus of about 60 species, the great majority of tropical to subtropical distribution.