Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

440
Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands
Public Forests: Cambalache, Carite, Ceiba,
Guajataca, Guánica, Maricao, Mona, Río Abajo,
and Susúa.
2. Lasiacis ligulata Hitchc. & Chase, Contr. U.S.
Natl. Herb. 18(7): 337. 1917.
Fig. 182 H-K
SYNONYM: Panicum divaricatum L. var. puberulum
Griseb.
Perennial herb; culms 1-5 m in length, erect
or scandent. Leaves distichous; leaf sheath
glabrous or pubescent; ligule (1.6)2-3(3.7) mm
long; blades broad to narrowly lanceolate,
flattened, (5-)7-14(-17) cm × (6-)10-22(34) mm,
scabrous, glabrous or pubescent on the upper
surface. Inflorescences ovate; primary axis 2-
17(21) cm long; secondary axes 1-8 cm long,
reflexed or spreading. Spikelets solitary, obovoid,
(3-)3.2-3.8 × 1.7-2.4 mm; lower glumes 0.7-2 mm
long, 7-11-veined; upper glumes 2.7-3.5 mm long,
9-11-veined.
Phenology: Collected in fertile condition from
November to March and in June.
Status: Native, uncommon.
Distribution: Uncommon in areas of secondary
vegetation. Also on St. Croix, St. John, St.
Thomas, and Tortola; throughout the Antilles and
from Central America to Bolivia.
Public Forests: Carite, El Yunque, Maricao,
Río Abajo, and Susúa.
4. OLYRA
3. Lasiacis sorghoidea (Desv.) Hitchc., Contr.
U.S. Natl. Herb. 18(7): 338. 1917.
Fig. 183. A-D
BASIONYM: Panicum sorghoideum Desv.
SYNONYMS: Panicum divaricatum L. var. lanatum
Schltdl. & Cham.
Panicum fuscum Sieber ex Griseb.
Lasiacis swartziana (Hitchc.) Hitchc.
Perennial herb; culms 1-10 m in length, erect,
decumbent, or scandent. Leaves distichous; leaf
sheath pubescent, papillose or hispid; ligule
(0.3)0.5-1.5(-2.6) mm long; blades lanceolate,
ovate or linear, flattened, (6-)9-19(-23) cm ×
(6)12-34(46) mm, smooth, pubescent on the upper
surface. Inflorescences ovate; primary axis (5-)9-
25(-35) cm long; secondary axes 4-9 cm long,
appressed or spreading. Spikelets solitary, obovoid
or ellipsoid, (3-)3.4-4.1 × 2.5-3.2 mm; lower
glumes (1.2-)1.5-2.1 mm long, 7-11-veined; upper
glumes 3-4.3 mm long, 9-13-veined.
Phenology: Collected in fertile condition from
November to April.
Status: Native, locally common.
Distribution: Uncommon in areas of secondary
or disturbed vegetation. Also on Vieques, St.
Croix, St. John, St. Thomas, and Virgin Gorda;
throughout the Antilles and from Mexico to
Argentina.
Public Forests: Carite, El Yunque, Maricao,
and Susúa.
Monoecious herbs, perennial, caespitose; culms erect or creeping or climbing. Leaves with well
developed auricles; ligules membranaceous; blade broad. Inflorescences paniculate, solitary or numerous
at the upper nodes of the stem. Spikelets with a single flower; pistillate spikelets usually with a claviform
pedicel, separating as a unit or the flowers separating from the glumes, the glumes acuminate or
aristate, membranaceous, pluriveined, longer than the flower; flowers lanceolate or ovate, whitish,
persistent; spikelets staminate, smaller than the pistillate ones, linear or lanceolate, hyaline, deciduous,
the glumes usually absent; stamens 3.
1. Olyra latifolia L., Syst. Nat. ed. 10, 1261.
1759.
Fig. 183. E-H
Perennial herb; culms erect or climbing, 1-6
m in length, 3-12 mm in diameter, brittle, hollow
inside, with numerous branches from the middle
and upper nodes; nodes somewhat collapsed,
pilose or glabrous. Leaf sheath pilose or glabrous;
auricles up to 5 mm long; ligules 0.7-5 mm long;
blades lanceolate to ovate, 10-32 × 3-11 cm, the
base obtuse or subcordate, the apex acuminate.
Panicles pyramidal, 7-20 × 4-14 cm, on peduncles
ca. 15 cm long.