Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

300
Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands
glabrous or puberulent with numerous minute
circular scales; rachis very slender, spiny; stipules
subulate, 3-4 mm long; stipels spiniform, ca. 1
mm long. Heads globose, axillary, solitary;
peduncle 4-13(20) mm long. Calyx 0.3-0.5 mm
long; corolla campanulate, pink, 2-3 mm long,
with 5-6 lobes; stamens exserted, pink, ca. 6 mm
long. Legumes 1-7 per head, erect, linear or
oblong, quadrangular, 2-14 cm long, 2.5-6.5 mm
25. Family LAURACEAE
1. CASSYTHA
26. Family MALPIGHIACEAE
Key to the genera
wide, pilose, with 4-5 longitudinal ribs, which
have recurved spines.
Phenology: Collected in fruit during
December.
Status: Variety endemic to Puerto Rico,
uncommon.
Distribution: Known from Piedras Chiquitas,
Coamo.
Twining vines, herbaceous, parasitic. Leaves reduced to minute scales. Flowers bisexual, sessile,
in axillary spikes . Tepals 6, in two unequal series; fertile stamens 9, in three whorls; ovary superior,
globose, minute. Fruit a fleshy berry. A cosmopolitan genus of 20 species.
1. Cassytha filiformis L., Sp. Pl. 35. 1753.
Fig. 120. A-F
SYNONYM: Cassytha americana Nees
Fideillo, Bejuco dorado, Cabellos de ángel,
Fideos, Tente en el aire, Yellow dodder, Yellow
love
Herbaceous vine, twining, parasitic, that
adheres to the host plant by means of small
haustoria, attainig 1-5 m in length. Stems
yellowish green or yellow, flexible, ca. 2 mm in
diameter, cylindrical, profusely branched. Leaves
1-2 mm long, lanceolate, sessile, almost
imperceptible or absent. Inflorescences of short
spikes with few flowers. Tepals white, ovate, ca.
2 mm wide. Fruit globose, light green or white,
5-7 mm in diameter.
Phenology: Flowering and fruiting throughout
the year.
Status: Native, rather common.
Distribution: In disturbed areas at low
elevation, predominantly near the littoral zone.
Also on Cayo Diablo, Isla Piñeiros, Mona,
Vieques, St. Croix, St. John, St. Thomas, Tortola,
and Virgin Gorda; a cosmopolitan species.
Public Forests: Guánica, Mona, Piñones, and
Tortuguero.
1a. Mericarp with a single dorsal wing well developed (lateral wings not developed)………..2
1b. Mericarp with 4 wings (two pairs of lateral wings, the dorsal wing not developed)
…………………………………………………………...………….….......…3.Tetrapterys
2a. Stamens 10, subequal, fertile; styles obtuse at the apex …..……………..…1. Heteropterys
2b. Stamens 10, unequal, 4-6 fertile, with the anthers thicker; styles with the apex broadened
..………………………………………………….…..…………………….2. Stigmaphyllon