Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands 65
1. Rhabdadenia biflora (Jacq.) Müll. Arg. in
Mart., Fl. Bras. 6(1): 175. 1860.
Fig. 20. G-K
BASIONYM: Echites biflora Jacq.
SYNONYM: Rhabdadenia paludosa (Vahl) Miers
Twining liana, glabrous, 7-10 m in length,
with abundant milky latex. Stems green,
cylindrical, smooth. Leaves opposite; blades 5-8
× 1.5-4.5 cm, elliptical, obovate, oblong,
oblanceolate, and sometimes ovate, glabrous, the
apex mucronate, obtuse, truncate, or sometimes
retuse, the base obtuse or attenuate, the margins
entire, slightly revolute; upper surface dull green;
lower surface glaucous, with obscure venation;
petioles 0.5-2 cm long; stipules not visible.
Flowers in short axillary cymes. Calyx of oblong,
mucronate sepals, 5-5.5 mm long, green; corolla
infundibuliform, white, sometimes tinged with
pink, with the center yellow inside, 4.5-5.7 cm
long. Follicles linear, 6-10 cm long, parallel or
slightly divaricate when mature; seeds numerous,
linear, ca. 2.5 cm long, with a tuft of silky hairs
at the apex.
Phenology: Flowering throughout the year and
fruiting mostly from March to September.
Status: Native, common.
Distribution: Abundant in mangroves and
marshy coastal forests. Cited for St. Thomas by
Britton, but probably extirpated since most of its
mangroves have been destroyed. Also in the
Antilles, the United States (Florida), Mexico,
Central America, and South America.
Public forest: Piñones.
References: Morales, J. F. 1997. A reevaluation of Echites and Prestonia sect. Coalitae
(Apocynaceae). Brittonia 49: 328-336. Sakane, M. and G. J. Shepherd. 1986. Uma revisão do gênero
Allamanda (Apocynaceae). Rev. Brazil. Bot. 9: 125-149.
4. Family ARISTOLOCHIACEAE
1. ARISTOLOCHIA
Herbaceous or woody vines, less frequently herbs or shrubs. Leaves alternate, petiolate; blades
simple, entire or trilobed; pseudostipules usually present. Flowers bisexual, zygomorphic, solitary and
axillary or clustered and cauliflorous. Calyx inflated in the basal portion (utricle), the apex of the
utricle narrow, forming a tube that expands toward the margins into an entire, circular or bilobed limb,
the lobes generally unequal, some forming a long tail; corolla absent; stamens 5-6, sessile; ovary
inferior or half-inferior, of 5-6 united carpels; ovules numerous; styles 5-6, connate, the stigma capitate.
Fruit a septicidal capsule, with numerous light, compressed seeds. A tropical genus of 450-550 species.
Key to the species of Aristolochia
1a. Leaves trilobed ............................................................................................................. 7. A. trilobata
1b. Leaves entire, not lobed ..................................................................................................................... 2
2a. Pseudostipules absent......................................................................................................................... 3
2a. Pseudostipules present ....................................................................................................................... 4
3a. Leaves lanceolate, hastate, or less frequently ovate; floral limb 4-6 cm in diameter, without a tail
...................................................................................................................... 5. A. odoratissima
3b. Leaves ovate or broadly ovate; floral limb 12-31 cm in diameter with a long tail, 7-150 cm long
......................................................................................................................... 3. A. grandiflora