Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands 379
trichomes; ovary superior, of 2 carpels, the style simple, the stigma conical, bilobate or with two short
branches. Fruit a bivalvate capsule, ovate, globose, symmetrical or asymmetrical, with irregular
dehiscence. Seeds numerous, circular. A genus of 10 species native from Mexico to Guatemala, the
majority of montane cloud forests.
1. Lophospermum erubescens D. Don in Sweet,
Brit. Flow. Gard. Ser. 2 1: , t. 68, sub t. 75.
1831 [1830].
Fig. 153. A-G
Mijo del sol
Herbaceous vine, branched from the base, that
climbs by means of twining petioles and attains
several meters in length. Stems cylindrical, with
a pubescence of glandular trichomes. Leaves
alternate, simple, deltate, chartaceous, 3.5-7.3(15)
× 2.5-6.7, the apex acute, the base cordiform, the
margins dentate-mucronate; upper surface and
lower surface densely glandular-pubescent, the
venation slightly prominent or not prominent;
petioles 3-6.5 cm long, twining, densely
glandular-pubescent; stipules absent. Flowers
solitary, axillary; peduncles as long as or longer
than the petioles, densely glandular-pubescent.
Calyx green, usually purple tingeD, glandularpubescent,
the sepals lanceolate, free, 2.5-3 cm
long. Corolla infundibuliform, intense pink,
abaxially glandular-pubescent, 6-7.5 cm long,
with 5 rounded lobes, 1-1.4 cm long; stamens 4,
didynamous; ovary bilocular, glandularpubescent.
Capsule membranaceous, ovoid, 1.5-
1.9 cm long. Seeds discoid, ca. 2 mm wide,
sculptured in the center, surrounded by a
translucent wing.
Phenology: Flowering from January to July
and fruiting from June to August.
Status: Exotic, cultivated and naturalized
(according to Liogier, 1995), uncommon.
Distribution: Native to Mexico, but found
cultivated and naturalized throughout the tropics.
Reference: Elisens, W.J. 1985. Monograph of the Maurandyinae (Scrophulariaceae-Antirrhineae).
Syst. Bot. Monographs 5: 1-97.
45. Family SOLANACEAE
Key to the genera
1a. Corolla rotate, 1-2 cm in diameter, violet; anthers dehiscent by a terminal pore...........……….…2
1b. Corolla cyathiform, greenish white or yellow, 15-23 cm long; anthers dehiscent by longitudinal
sutures ..................................………...……………………………………………….…. 2. Solandra
2a. Leaves deeply lobate; calyx of 5 sepals, without appendages ..................………………... 3. Solanum
2b. Leaves entire; calyx with 10 linear appendages ..................……………………………. 1. Lycianthes
1. LYCIANTHES
Herbs, shrubs, or herbaceous or woody vines, without spines, glabrous or pubescent with simple or
stellate hairs. Leaves alternate, simple, entire; stipules absent. Flowers actinomorphic, 5-merous,
bisexual, solitary or fasciculate, axillary. Calyx campanulate or crateriform, truncate, usually with 5-
10 linear appendages on or near the margin; corolla rotate, with the limb pentagonal or lobate; stamens