Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands 419
25-60 × 0.4-1.0 cm, pleated or almost flat, with
three main parallel veins, subrigid, retrorsely
scabrous on the veins and the margins, the apex
acuminate or obtuse; leaf sheath as long as the
internode, scabrous on the angles. Panicles
solitary, distal or axillary, pyramidal, the distal
ones 6-14 cm long, with a short leafy bract at the
base; axes minutely pubescent or glabrous;
bracteoles filiform. Staminate and pistillate
spikelets 4-6 mm long; sterile scales 4-5, ovatecircular,
brown or reddish brown, finely ciliate
on the margins, the apex apiculate. Achenes
ovoid-globose or ovoid, 2.6-3.3 mm long, white,
shiny or with a purple tinge; hypogynium
trilobate, 1-1.8 mm long, whitish, the lobes
semicircular, with the margins reflexed and
appressed to the achene.
Phenology: Flowering and fruiting throughout
the year.
Status: Apparently endemic to Puerto Rico.
Locally very common.
Distribution: In moist or rain forests of the
cordilleras. Reported for Cuba, but no specimens
seen or found.
Public Forests: Carite, El Yunque, Guilarte,
Maricao, and Toro Negro.
2. Scleria scindens Nees ex Kunth, Enum. Pl. 2:
343. 1837.
Fig. 173. C-E
Razor grass
Perennial herb, forming large colonies, erect
or climbing, attainig 3.5 m in length. Culms
acutely triquetrous, 3-8 mm wide retrorsely and
antrorsely scabrid on the corners, strigulose on
the distal portion. Leaves alternate, linear, 30-90
× 0.5-1.5 cm, almost flat or pleated, with five
parallel main veins, subrigid, retrorsely scabrid
on the veins and the margins; leaf sheath scabrid
on the angles. Panicles solitary, terminal,
pyramidal, dense, 3-8 cm wide, sometimes with
one or two small panicles at the base; bracts
usually 3 on the terminal panicles. Staminate and
pistillate spikelets intermingled, of the same size;
sterile scales 2-3, 3-4 mm long, light brown, ciliate
on the margins, apiculate at the apex. Achenes
globose, 2.3-2.6 mm long, apiculate, white, shiny,
sometimes with a purple tinge; hypogynium
trilobate, 1-1.7 mm long, the lobes semicircular,
slightly revolute, divergent (not appressed to the
achene).
Phenology: Collected in flower and fruit from
February to August.
Status: Native, locally common.
Distribution: In moist or semi-moist disturbed
areas in the Virgin Islands (St. John, Tortola, and
Virgin Gorda). Also in Cuba, Hispaniola, and the
Lesser Antilles.
3. Scleria secans (L.) Urb., Symb. Antill. 2(2):
169. 1900.
Fig. 173. F-G
BASIONYM: Schoenus secans L.
Perennial herb, rhizomatous, climbing,
attainig 5-10 m in length. Culms branched in the
distal portion, acutely triquetrous, retrorsely
spinulose on the corners, distally hirsute. Leaves
alternate, linear, 10-40 × 0.2-0.7 cm, nearly flat
or pleated, attenuate at the apex, the upper surface
hirsute at the base, the lower surface sparsely
hirsute to glabrous, retrorsely scabrous along the
midvein and the margins; leaf sheath scaberulous
on the angles. Inflorescences of few spikelets,
composed of a terminal panicle and 1-3 axillary
panicles that are borne from the ultimate leaf;
terminal panicle 2.5-6 cm long; the lateral ones
shorter. Staminate spikelets shorter than the
pistillate ones; sterile scales 4, ovate or ovatelanceolate,
2.5-6 mm long, light or dark brown,
reddish or blackish on the margins. Achenes ovoid
or oblong-ovoid, rounded at the apex, appressedpubescent,
2.8-4 mm long, white, sometimes with
greenish spots; hypogynium discoid, obscurely
trilobate, 0.3-1 mm long, the lobes entire, reflexed.
Phenology: Collected in flower and fruit from
October to May.
Status: Native, uncommon.
Distribution: In thickets, along trails, and at
the margin of moist forests along the Cordillera
Central and the Sierra de Luquillo. Also in the
Antilles, Mexico, Central America, and South
America.
Public Forests: Carite and El Yunque.
Reference: Strong, M. T. and P. Acevedo-Rodríguez. (in prep.) Cyperaceae. In: Acevedo-Rodríguez,
P. & M.T. Strong (eds.) Monocots of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Contrib. U.S. National
Herbarium.