Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

432
Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands
Inflorescence a pendulous axillary raceme, fewflowered;
bracts fleshy, broadly ovate, 5-7 mm
long. Sepals light green, free, expanded, 4.8-5.5
× 0.8-1.2 cm, the dorsal sepal concave, narrowly
oblong-elliptical, the lateral ones similar but
falcate, 4.5-5 × 0.9-13 cm. Petals light green,
oblong-oblanceolate, keeled, 4.1-5 × 1.1-1.4 cm;
lip crenulate, obscurely trilobate, purple-brown,
pale toward the margins and the throat, the basal
portion adnate to the lower half of the column;
column arcuate, slender, 3.2 cm long. Fruits
pendulous, fusiform-clavate, ca. 16 cm long and
12 mm in diameter, changing from green to
yellow-orange when ripe, partially dehiscent at
the apex; seeds minute, numerous, black, in a
white gelatinous matrix.
Phenology: Flowering from March to May and
fruiting from September to January.
Status: Native, locally common.
Distribution: In moist forests on serpentine
soils, in the region of Sabana Grande, San
Germán, and Yauco. Also in Florida, Cuba, and
Hispaniola.
Public Forests: Maricao and Susúa.
4. Vanilla mexicana Miller, Gard. Dict. ed. 8,
no. 1. 1768.
Fig. 179. A-C
SYNONYMS: Vanilla vanilla (L.) Britton, nom. inadmis.
Vanilla inodora Schiede
Non-woody vine, glabrous, scarcely branched,
that climbs by means of aerial roots and attains 5
m or more in length. Stems cylindrical, 2-3(5)
mm in diameter, producing watery and caustic
latex when wounded; internodes 7.5-20 cm long;
nodes swollen, with an annular scar, producing a
single adventitious root per node; the lateral
branches pendulous. Leaves persistent, elliptical
or broadly ovate, fleshy-coriaceous, 13-25 × 6.5-
12.5 cm, the apex acuminate, the margins entire,
flat; both surfaces dull, glabrous, with prominent
venation; petioles thick, 0.5-1 cm long.
Inflorescence an axillary raceme, few-flowered;
bracts fleshy, broadly ovate, 2.5 cm long. Sepals
green, thick, rigid, free, expanded, up to 6.5 × 2
cm, oblong-lanceolate to lanceolate-elliptical.
Petals similar, but dorsally keeled and smaller;
lip trilobate, white with a yellow crest, the basal
portion adnate along 5 mm of the column; column
white, slender, 2-2.5 cm long. Fruits pendulous,
cylindrical, up to 27 cm long.
Phenology: Flowering from March to May,
producing fruits in Puerto Rico only by artificial
pollination.
Status: Exotic, cultivated and escaped, rare.
Distribution: Escaped from cultivation by
vegetative reproduction. In moist forests at middle
elevations. Also on St. Croix; Mexico, Guatemala,
Nicaragua, the United States (Florida), the
Antilles, and northern South America.
Public Forests: El Yunque and Maricao.
5. Vanilla planifolia Jackson in Andrews, Bot.
Repos. 8: t. 538. 1808.
Fig. 179. F-G
Non-woody vine, glabrous, scarcely branched,
that climbs by means of aerial roots and attains
7-10 m in length. Stems cylindrical, 5-10 mm in
diameter, producing watery and caustic latex when
wounded; internodes up to 12 cm long; nodes
slightly swollen, producing a single adventitious
root per node; the lateral branches pendulous.
Leaves persistent, oblong, elliptical, or ovate,
fleshy, rigid, 14-25 × 4.5-8 cm, the apex acute or
acuminate, the margins entire, slightly revolute;
upper surface dull; lower surface dull; petioles 1-
1.5 cm long, thick. Inflorescence a pendulous
axillary raceme, few-flowered; peduncle flexuous;
bracts fleshy, broadly ovate, 5-10 mm long. Sepals
yellowish green, thick, free, expanded, 3.5-5.5 ×
1.3 cm, elliptic-oblanceolate. Petals similar, but
dorsally keeled and smaller; lip greenish yellow,
reflexed at the apex, with a retuse apical lobe, the
basal portion unguiculate, adnate to the column;
column arcuate, 3-3.5 cm long. Fruits black when
ripe, pendulous, cylindrical, fragrant, up to 25 cm
long.
Phenology: Flowering from February to April,
but rarely producing fruits, because its natural
pollinators are not found in Puerto Rico.
Status: Exotic, naturalized by asexual
reproduction.
Distribution: Formerly cultivated in Puerto
Rico for the commercial production of vanilla.
Today, some of these plantations persist, with
some populations naturalized in moist forested
areas at middle elevations. Species native to