Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands 397
1. CISSUS
Vines, usually fleshy, that climb by means of tendrils opposite the leaves. The stems fleshy or
slightly woody, without anatomical anomalies, producing scarce watery latex when cut. Leaves simple
or trifoliolate, alternate, with serrate or entire margins; petioles more or less long; stipules small and
deciduous. Flowers 4-merous, actinomorphic, usually bisexual, produced in compound cymes, opposite
the leaves; calyx campanulate, with 4 minute lobes; petals 4, reflexed during anthesis; stamens alternating
with the petals; disc cupuliform, entire or lobate; ovary superior, bilocular, with a robust and elongate
style. Fruit a fleshy berry, globose, ovoid, or depressed-globose. A pantropical genus of 350 species.
Key to the species of Cissus
1a. Leaves simple…………………………………………………………………………..……….2
1b. Leaves trifoliolate……………………………………………………………………………….3
2a. Leaves ovate, coriaceous ……………….……………………………….….….. 5. C. verticillata
2b. Leaves elliptical, fleshy ………………………………………………………. 3. C. rotundifolia
3a. Stems angular, 4-6-winged; terminal leaflet 4.3-15 cm long, usually elliptical, lanceolate, or ovate
…..…………………………..……………..……...………………………….........… 1. C. erosa
3b. Stems cylindrical, sometimes sulcate; terminal leaflet 1.6-4 cm long, rhombic or obovate….... 4
4a. Terminal leaflets obovate, obtuse, or rounded at the apex, the margins crenate or scattered-dentate;
flowers red…......…..……………………………………………................………. 2. C. obovata
4b. Terminal leaflets rhombic, acute at the apex, the margins sinuate-dentate on the upper half; flowers
yellowish green ………………...………………………………………................ 4. C. trifoliata
1. Cissus erosa L.C. Rich., Act. Soc. Hist. Nat.
1: 106. 1792.
Fig. 162. A-J
Caro de tres hojas
Non-woody vine, that climbs by means of
tendrils and attains 5-6 m in length. Stems
angular, quadrangular, or 4-6-winged, branched,
glabrous or puberulent, the nodes swollen. Leaves
alternate, trifoliolate; leaflets elliptical, lanceolate,
or ovate, 4.3-10.5 × 3-5.5 cm (the terminal leaflet
larger), glabrous or puberulent on the prominent
veins, the apex acute or obtuse, the base acute,
obtuse, or attenuate on the central leaflet and
unequal on the lateral leaflets, the margins serrate;
petiolules very short or absent; petioles
canaliculate or slightly winged, 2-3(5) cm long;
stipules deltoid, auriculate at the base, 2-4 mm
long. Tendrils opposite the leaves, simple,
filiform, 10-12 cm long, sometimes terminating
in adventitious discs. Inflorescences of
umbelliform cymes, opposite the leaves; peduncle
longer than the accompanying leaf; pedicels 2-
2.5 mm long, reddish. Calyx ca. 1 mm high, red
or pink, truncate; petals red, glabrous, papillose;
stamens green; disc reddish. Fruits globose, 5-7
mm in diameter, black when ripe. Seed one, 5-7
mm long.
Phenology: Flowering throughout the year.
Status: Native, common.
Distribution: In disturbed areas on roadsides,
on fences, and in pastures at lower and middle
elevations. Also on Anegada; Hispaniola and
tropical continental America.
Public Forests: El Yunque, Guilarte, Maricao,
Río Abajo, and Tortuguero.
2. Cissus obovata Vahl, Symb. Bot. 3: 19. 1794.
Fig. 163. A-D
SYNONYMS: Cissus caustica Tussac
Cissus tuberculata Jacq.
Slightly woody vine that climbs by means of
tendrils and attains 3-15 m in length. Stems much