Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands 51
Status: Exotic, common, naturalized in Puerto
Rico and the Virgin Islands.
Distribution: In areas of disturbed vegetation
throughout Puerto Rico. Also on Vieques, St.
Croix, St. John, St. Thomas, and Tortola. Native
to India and Sri Lanka, but naturalized in the
tropics.
Public forests: Maricao, Piñones, Río Abajo,
and Tortuguero.
3. Thunbergia grandiflora (Roxb. ex Rottler)
Roxb., Hort. Geng. 45. 1814.
Fig. 15. A-F
BASIONYM: Flemingia grandiflora Roxb. ex Rottler
Tunbergia
Woody vine, twining, 10-15 m in length.
Stems cylindrical, up to 2.5 cm in diameter,
striate, puberulous; cross section of the stem with
the pith hollow and the xylem tissue with wide
rays. Leaves opposite; blades 15-26 × 13-30 cm,
ovate or broadly ovate, chartaceous, the apex acute
or acuminate, the base cordiform or subcordiform,
the margins lobate-dentate, ciliate; upper surface
dark green, shiny, puberulous, with slightly
prominent venation; lower surface light green,
dull, glabrous or puberulous, with prominent
venation; petioles 6-12 cm long, sulcate. Flowers
arranged in axillary cymes; pedicels robust,
cylindrical, 4-6 cm long; bracts light green,
membranaceous, ovate, ca. 4 cm long, covering
the calyx and the corolla tube. Calyx green, in
the form of a ring, 4-5 mm long; corolla lilac or
white, infundibuliform, with 5 lobes, the tube 6-
7 cm long, light yellow inside, narrow at the base,
the limb 6-7 cm in diameter. Capsule ca. 3 cm
long, subglobose at the base, the upper half in the
form of a beak, dehiscent in two halves.
Phenology: Flowering throughout the year and
fruiting sporadically from May to July.
Status: Exotic, very aggressive, widely
cultivated and naturalized in Puerto Rico.
Distribution: In moist disturbed areas at
moderately low to middle elevations. Native to
India, but widely cultivated in the tropics.
Cultivated on St. Croix and St. Thomas.
Public forests: Maricao and Río Abajo.
References. Stearn, W. T. 1971. A survey of the tropical genera Oplonia and Psilanthele
(Acanthaceae). Bull. Br. Mus. Nat. Hist. (Bot.) 4: 261-323.
2. Family AMARANTHACEAE
Key to the genera
1a. Leaves alternate; tepals glabrous....................................................................................................... 2
1b. Leaves opposite; tepals densely covered with tufts of long hairs on the outer surface ................... 3
2a. Clambering herbs, 0.5-1 m in length; utricle with numerous naked seeds .................... 1. Celosia
2b. Scandent lianas or shrubs, 5-10 m in length; utricle with only one seed, covered by a fleshy arillode
............................................................................................................................. 2. Chamissoa
3a. Clambering herbs, 1.5-2 m in length; stigma divided in 2 divergent filiform branches....3. Iresine
3b. Scandent shrubs or twining lianas, > 5 m in length; stigmas bilobate.............................. 4. Pfaffia
1. CELOSIA
Herbs or shrubs, erect or sometimes clambering or scandent. Leaves alternate, petiolate; blades
simple; stipules absent. Flowers bisexual, pedicellate or sessile, clustered in cymes, which are arranged
along terminal or axillary spikes, panicles, or thyrses. Tepals 5, subequal, free; stamens 5, the filaments
united at the base to form a short crateriform tube; interstaminal appendages dentate or absent; ovary