Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

342
Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands
or chartaceous, elliptical, 1.2-6 × 0.9-2.7 cm, the
apex obtuse or less frequently acute or rounded,
the base obtuse, the margins crenulate; upper
surface dark green, dull, with inconspicuous
venation; lower surface light green, dull, with the
midvein prominent; petioles 4-10 mm long;
stipules absent. Flowers fragrant, in racemes at
the end of short axillary branches, up to 7 cm
long; peduncle glabrous; pedicels 2-3 mm long.
Sepals 5, white, ca. 2.5 mm long, elliptical, more
or less concave; petals 5, white, elliptical, 2.5-3
mm long; stamens 10, the filaments connate at
the base; ovary superior, with 3-5 carpels, stigmas
3-5, sessile, elongate. Fruit a reddish capsule,
1. Trichostigma octandrum (L.) H. Walter,
Pflanzenr. 4(83): 109. 1909.
Fig. 138. I-M
BASIONYM: Rivina octandra L.
Bejuco de paloma, Bejuco de nasa,
Bejuco de palma, Basket wiss,
Black wiss, Hoopvine
Clambering shrub or liana, with pendulous
branches, attainig 5-10(-30) m in length. Stems
cylindrical, 5-15 cm in diameter. Branches
glabrous, with numerous lenticels. Leaves
alternate, chartaceous, elliptical or oblong, 4-
9(13) × 1.7-4(6) cm, the apex acute or acuminate,
the base acute or obtuse, sometimes unequal, the
margins crenulate; upper surface dark green, dull,
glabrous, with the venation reticulate,
inconspicuous; lower surface light green, dull,
with the midvein prominent, sometimes the
secondary veins, the tertiary veins inconspicuous;
petioles 0.5-1.5(3) cm long, with a yellowish or
pink tinge, sulcate, swollen at the base; stipules
absent. Inflorescences of axillary racemes, up to
15 cm long; peduncle glabrous or puberulent;
pedicels 4-7 mm long, with a minute green
3. TRICHOSTIGMA
ovoid, 4-5.5 mm long, opening by 3-4 woody
valves. Seeds ellipsoid, black, shiny, ca. 4 mm
long, covered by a white to pink aril.
Phenology: Collected in flower from June to
September and from November to January and in
fruit from January to March and from August to
September.
Status: Probably exotic, cultivated, probably
naturalized.
Distribution: Known from a single collection
made by Britton and Horne (9628) in 1931 in
Barrio Asomante near Aibonito. Also in Cuba,
Hispaniola, Jamaica, and from Mexico to
Nicaragua.
Clambering shrubs or lianas with scandent branches; cross section of the stem with discrete vascular
bundles, surrounded by parenchymatous tissue. Leaves alternate or subopposite; petioles long; stipules
absent. Flowers bisexual, actinomorphic, in axillary racemes; bracts deciduous; bracteoles persistent;
calyx of 4 free tepals; petals absent; stamens 8-16, in two whorls, the anthers dehiscent longitudinally;
ovary superior, unilocular, with a single ovule, the stigma sessile, with numerous branches. Fruit a
fleshy drupe with a single seed and the persistent sepals at the base. A genus of 3 species, distributed
throughout the Neotropics
bracteole, filiform, below or above the middle.
Sepals 4, white, 3-5 mm long, oblong or elliptical,
concave; petals absent; stamens 8-16; stigmas
sessile, capitate, with numerous filiform branches.
Fruit fleshy, globose or ellipsoid, purple, 5-7 mm
long.
Phenology: Flowering and fruiting from April
to October.
Status: Native, very common.
Distribution: In mature or secondary forests
from the littoral zone to the Cordillera Central.
Also on Culebra, Mona, Vieques, St. Croix, St.
John, St. Thomas, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda;
throughout the Antilles and tropical continental
America.
Public Forests: Cambalache, Ceiba, El
Yunque, Guánica, Mona, Guilarte, Río Abajo,
Susúa, and Tortuguero.
Commentary: In Guilarte and Río Abajo there
are several populations of Trichostigma that differ
from Trichostigma octandrum in having scabrous
leaves with the tertiary and quaternary venation
very conspicuous. The recognition of these
populations at the specific or subspecific level is
not possible because there are no other significant
morphological differences.