Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

430
Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands
6a. Floral bracts 12-25 mm long; lip entire ………………………………………….7. V. pompona
6b. Floral bracts 5-10 mm long; lip trilobate ………..……….…………………...... 5. V. planifolia
1. Vanilla barbellata Reichenb. f. , Flora 48: 274.
1865.
Fig. 178. A-E
Non-woody vine, glabrous, scarcely branched,
that climbs by means of aerial roots and attains
5-7 m in length. Stems cylindrical, 3-9 mm in
diameter, producing abundant watery and caustic
latex when wounded; internodes 8-13 cm long;
nodes swollen, with an annular scar, producing 1
or 2 grayish roots; the lateral branches pendulous.
Leaves early deciduous, sessile, linear-lanceolate,
chartaceous, 4-5 × 0.8 cm, the apex acute, the
margins entire, not revolute; upper surface dull;
lower surface dull. Inflorescence a pendulous
axillary raceme with few or many flowers; bracts
fleshy, broadly ovate, 4-12 mm long. Sepals green,
open, free, oblong to oblanceolate, 3-4 × 0.9-1.2
cm. Petals similar to the sepals but slightly falcate,
dorsally keeled and somewhat broader (1-1.3 cm);
lip trilobate, greenish on the outer surface, red on
the inner surface in the center, but turning white
toward the margins, the center with a tuft of
barbate and rigid hairs, the basal portion adnate
to the column; column straight, almost cylindrical,
2.3-3.3 cm long. Fruits pendulous, fusiform or
cylindrical, slightly recurved, changing from
green to yellow-orange when ripe, 7-9 cm long,
9-13 mm in diameter.
Phenology: Flowering from April to June
(Ackerman, 1995), collected in fruit in January.
Status: Native, locally common.
Distribution: Uncommon in the southern and
southwestern zone, in dry forests and coastal
thickets at lower to middle elevations. Also on
St. Thomas, St. John, and Virgin Gorda; Florida,
Cuba, and the Bahamas.
Public Forests: Guánica, Maricao, and Susúa.
2. Vanilla claviculata (Wr.) Sw., Nova Acta
Regiae Soc. Sci. Upsal. 6: 66. 1799.
Fig. 178. F-H
BASIONYM: Epidendrum claviculatum Wr.
Non-woody vine, glabrous, scarcely branched,
that climbs by means of aerial roots and attains 5
m or more in length. Stems cylindrical, 3-8 mm
in diameter, producing abundant watery and
caustic latex when wounded; internodes 7-13 cm
long; nodes swollen, with an annular scar,
producing 1 or 2 grayish roots; the lateral
branches pendulous. Leaves early deciduous,
triangular to lanceolate, fleshy, 2.5-3.5 × 0.5-0.8
cm, the apex reflexed, the margins revolute; upper
surface dull; lower surface dull. Inflorescence an
erect axillary raceme with few or many flowers;
bracts fleshy, broadly ovate, 5-11 mm long. Sepals
olive-green, expanded, free, 3.5-4.5 × 1-1.3 cm,
the dorsal sepal concave, the lateral ones similar,
but falcate. Petals olive-green, elliptic-spatulate,
keeled, shorter and broader than the sepals; lip
more or less entire, completely white or with some
reddish spots at the base, the midvein with
numerous bifurcate hairs, the basal portion adnate
to the lower third of the column; column straight,
almost cylindrical, pubescent on the portion near
the stigma, 2.5-3 cm long. Fruits black when ripe,
pendulous, fusiform to cylindrical, slightly
recurved or straight, 7-11 × 0.9-1.2 cm.
Phenology: Flowering from April to June and
producing fruits infrequently (Ackerman, 1995).
Status: Native, locally common.
Distribution: In the dry limestone zone and
on serpentine soils. Also in the rest of the Greater
Antilles.
Public Forests: Guajataca, Guánica, and
Maricao.
3. Vanilla dilloniana Correll, Amer. Orchid Soc.
Bull. 15: 331. 1946.
Fig. 179. A-C
Non-woody vine, glabrous, scarcely branched,
that climbs by means of aerial roots and attains
5-7 m in length. Stems cylindrical, 4-8 mm in
diameter, producing abundant watery and caustic
latex when wounded; internodes up to 20 cm long;
nodes slightly swollen, producing 1 or 2 grayish
roots; the lateral branches pendulous. Leaves
persistent, lanceolate-triangular, fleshy, sessile, 3-
3.5 × 1-1.4 cm, the apex reflexed, the margins
involute; upper surface dull; lower surface dull.