Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

376
Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands
light brown, attaining 5 cm in diameter; cross
section with a central vascular cylinder and (5)8-
10 peripheral vascular cylinders. Leaves alternate,
triternate (27 leaflets) or exceptionally bipinnate
(more than 27 leaflets); leaflets coriaceous, the
margins deeply serrate or lobate on the distal
portion; upper surface glabrous, shiny, with
slightly prominent venation; lower surface light
green, dull, with the reticulate venation slightly
prominent, barbate in the axil of the veins nearest
to the base, lineate; distal leaflets ovate or
rhombic, 1.7-5 × 0.7-3 cm, the apex acute, obtuse,
truncate, or acuminate, the base abruptly
attenuate; lateral leaflets elliptical, ovate, or
oblong, 1-3 × 0.8-2.7 cm, the apex obtuse or
truncate, the base rounded, abruptly attenuate;
primary and secondary rachis winged or narrowly
winged; petioles 1-3 long, not winged, glabrous
or puberulent; stipules minute, caducous; tendrils
in pairs, spirally twisted, at the end of short
axillary axes, from which an inflorescence usually
develops. Inflorescences of axillary thyrses or
forming a panicle when they are terminal on the
branches; flowers zygomorphic, pedicellate,
grouped in lateral cincinni. Calyx pale green,
white-tomentose, of 5 sepals, 3-5 mm long. Petals
white, obovate, 4-5 mm long; petaliferous
appendages slightly shorter than the petals, fleshy,
yellow, and bifurcate at the apex; disc unilateral,
with 4 rounded or ovoid glands, glabrous or
puberulent at the base; stamens 8, the filaments
pilose; ovary trilocular, glabrous or puberulent.
Mericarps samaroid, 1.5-2.5 cm long, with a wing
on the lower portion, the seminiferous portion
almost globose, reticulate, glabrous or puberulent,
with a brown, ellipsoid seed inside.
Phenology: Flowering from September to
April and fruiting from October to April.
Status: Native, very common.
Distribution: On forest edges and roadsides,
in dry forests, coastal thickets, and forests in the
zone of mogotes. Found from Cayey to Hispaniola,
with collections in Utuado and the south and west
coasts of Puerto Rico. Also on Caja de Muerto.
Public Forests: Cambalache, Guajataca,
Guánica, Maricao, Río Abajo, and Susúa.
References: Acevedo-Rodríguez, P. 1993. Systematics of Serjania (Sapindaceae). Part I: A revision
of Serjania section Platycoccus. Mem. New York Botanical Garden 67: 1-93. Radlkofer, L.T. 1875.
Monographie der Sapindaceen-Gattung Serjania. Verlag der K.B. Academie. München.
43. Family SCHLEGELIACEAE
1. SCHLEGELIA
Lianas or shrubs, climbing by adventitious roots. Stems cylindrical, interpetiolar zone not glandular;
pseudostipules inconspicuous, conical, obtuse; cross section of the mature stem with normal peripheral
phloem. Leaves opposite, simple, coriaceous, without tendrils. Flowers in axillary racemes or terminal
bracteate panicles. Calyx simple, crateriform, truncate or irregularly lobed; corolla white, pink, purple,
or reddish, zygomorphic, tubular-campanulate or tubular, more or less glabrous outside, the lobes
lepidote inside; stamens 4, didynamous, inserted or exserted, 2 of them modified into staminodia;
ovary superior, globose, bilocular, with a simple central placenta in each locule, the ovules multiseriate
per locule. Fruit usually a globose berry with a thin pericarp and with a persistent calyx on the basal
portion; seeds numerous, small, without wings, surrounded by a pulp. A genus of 14 species naturally
distributed from Guatemala to Brazil, including the Antilles.