Exogonium keeneri Britton ined.

• Authority

  Britton, Nathaniel L. Flora Borinqueña.

• Family

  Convolvulaceae

• Scientific Name

  Exogonium keeneri Britton ined.

• Description

  Species Description - Until flowering specimens of this herbaceous vine were observed by Reverend Andrew I. Keener on El Yunque mountain in February, 1933, and brought by him to Mrs. Horne, it was regarded by botanists as conspecific with Exogonium repandum, also illustrated in this work; comparison of her water-color paintings of the two showed, however, striking differences in the flowers, and demonstrated that this endemic plant of Porto Rico forests is a species new to Science. We know it only from the higher elevations, in areas of abundant rainfall; Exogonium repandum appears to be restricted, in Porto Rico, to woodlands at lower elevations in the northern districts. Exogonium Keeneri is a smooth and slender vine, attaining a length of several meters. The thin, stalked, ovate to ovate-lanceolate leaves are from 6 to 14 centimeters long, and devoid of teeth or lobes; they are long-pointed, with a blunt or rounded base, the upper surface dark green, the under side paler; the attractive red flowers are few or several together, in loose, stalked clusters, the individual ones on stalks from 5 to 30 centimeters long; the oblong, blunt sepals are about 8 millimeters long; the corolla is about 4 centimeters long, with a limb about 15 millimeters broad, and only about one-sixth as long as the tube, its blunt, oblong lobes 6 or 7 millimeters long. An account of the genus Exogonium will be found with our description of Exogonium arenarium.

• Discussion

  Mr.Keener's Red Morning-glory Morning-glory Family Exogonium Keeneri Britton, ined.