Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands 53
superior, unilocular, subglobose, ovoid or cylindrical, the style elongate or the stigmas elongate or
capitate; ovules 2 or more numerous. Fruit a membranaceous, circumscissile utricle; seeds 2 to many,
ellipsoidal, naked. About 50 species, widely distributed in the tropics and subtropics.
1. Celosia nitida Vahl, Symb. Bot. 2: 44. 1791.
Fig. 16. A-E
Herb or subshrub, erect or sometimes
clambering, 0.5-1 m in length, with numerous
branches that are borne on a woody base. Branches
cylindrical, glabrous, striate. Leaves alternate;
blades 2-6 × 1-3 (4) cm, deltate-lanceolate or
lanceolate, chartaceous, glabrous, the apex acute,
the base unequal, truncate, abruptly narrowed
toward the petiole, the margins entire or slightly
undulate; upper surface dull, with numerous
whitish dots; petioles slender, 1-1.5 cm long.
Flowers arranged in terminal, simple or branched
spikes, 2-10 cm long; bracts and bracteoles
triangular, with a hyaline margin. Tepals whitish
with the apex somewhat reddish, oblonglanceolate,
ca. 4 mm long, glabrous; stamens 5,
2. CHAMISSOA
the filaments compressed, united at the base to
form a short staminal tube; ovary ovoid, the
stigmas 3, ca. 2 mm long. Capsule subglobose,
somewhat compressed, ca. 3 mm long; seeds 9-
19, dark brown, shiny, ca. 1.2 mm long, lenticular,
naked.
Phenology: Flowering and fruiting throughout
the year.
Status: Native, common.
Distribution: In understory and thickets in
sandy coastal areas and in disturbed areas in the
interior at middle elevations. Also on Caja de
Muerto, Cayo Ratones, Culebra, Mona, Vieques,
St. Croix, St. John, St. Thomas, Tortola, and
Virgin Gorda; in the southern United States
(Florida), Mexico, the Antilles, and northern
South America.
Public forests: Guánica, Mona, Piñones, and
Río Abajo.
Subshrubs, scandent shrubs, or lianas. Leaves alternate, petiolate; blades simple; stipules absent.
Flowers bisexual or functionally unisexual; clustered in cymes, which are arranged in terminal or
axillary panicles. Tepals 5, ovate or lanceolate, free; stamens 5, the filaments united at the base to form
a short staminal tube; interstaminal appendages absent; ovary superior, unilocular, uniovulate, the
style short, with 2 or 3 stigmas. Fruit a membranaceous, circumscissile utricle; seed solitary, sometimes
covered by a fleshy arillode. A genus of 2 species, widely distributed in the Neotropics, from Mexico to
northern Argentina, including the Antilles.
1. Chamissoa altissima (Jacq.) Kunth in Humb.
Bonpl. & Kunth, Nov. Gen. Sp. (quarto ed.)
2: 197. 1817.
Fig. 1. D, 16. F-K
BASIONYM: Achyranthes altissima Jacq.
Liana or woody shrub, clambering, 3-15 m in
length, with numerous pendulous branches. Stems
angular when young and cylindrical when mature,
up to 3 cm in diameter, glabrous; cross section of
the stem with bands of vascular tissue alternating
with very narrow bands of parenchymatous tissue.
Leaves alternate; blades 8-14 × 3-7 cm, elliptical,
ovate, or elliptic-ovate, chartaceous, the apex
acute or acuminate, the base rounded, the margins
undulate; upper surface slightly shiny, puberulous;
lower surface pale green, dull, with prominent
venation; petioles slender, usually reddish, 2-4.5
cm long. Flowers in terminal panicles, 4-16 cm
long. Perianth white to greenish, with five ovate
tepals, concave, acute, ca. 3 mm long, glabrous;
stamens 5; stigma bifid. Capsule ovoid, truncate
at the apex, membranaceous, turning from green
to white, 3-4 mm long; seeds dark brown, shiny,
completely covered by a white arillode.
Phenology: Flowering and fruiting throughout
the year.
Status: Native, very common.