Monographs Details:
Authority:
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro. 2005. Vines and climbing plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 51: 1-483.
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro. 2005. Vines and climbing plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 51: 1-483.
Family:
Ericaceae
Ericaceae
Description:
Description - Woody shrub, scandent or clambering, attaining 3-5 m in length. Stems much branched, copper-colored, more or less cylindrical, striate, attaining up to 3 cm in diameter, the nodes swollen. Leaves alternate, reddish when young, glabrous, coriaceous, slightly brittle, ovate or elliptical, 4-14 x 2-8 cm, in general convex, the venation pinnate, usually from near the base, the apex acuminate, the base rounded or obtuse, the margins entire or undulate, revolute; upper surface dark green, shiny, with the venation generally sunken, translucent and yellowish; lower surface yellowish green, with the palmate venation prominent; petioles 5-7 nun long, thick, rugose. Inflorescences of terminal corymbiform racemes; pedicels thick, 10-12 mm long. Calyx campanulas, ca. 5 mm long, green, smooth, with five minute lobes; corolla campanulate, early deciduous, yellowish given, ca. 8 mm long, the lobes ovate, ca. 5 mm long, reflexed; stamens 10, the filaments white, flattened, adnate to the base of the corolla, the anthers golden yellow, the distal tube as long as the theca; ovary inferior, the style simple, the stigma subcapitate. Fruit fleshy, globose, 5-8 mm in diameter, cardinal red, with the calyx persistent on the apical portion. Seeds numerous, ca. 1 mm long, foveate, obtuse-trigonal.
Phenology - Flowering and fruiting from June to March.
Conservation Status - Native, rather common.
Description - Woody shrub, scandent or clambering, attaining 3-5 m in length. Stems much branched, copper-colored, more or less cylindrical, striate, attaining up to 3 cm in diameter, the nodes swollen. Leaves alternate, reddish when young, glabrous, coriaceous, slightly brittle, ovate or elliptical, 4-14 x 2-8 cm, in general convex, the venation pinnate, usually from near the base, the apex acuminate, the base rounded or obtuse, the margins entire or undulate, revolute; upper surface dark green, shiny, with the venation generally sunken, translucent and yellowish; lower surface yellowish green, with the palmate venation prominent; petioles 5-7 nun long, thick, rugose. Inflorescences of terminal corymbiform racemes; pedicels thick, 10-12 mm long. Calyx campanulas, ca. 5 mm long, green, smooth, with five minute lobes; corolla campanulate, early deciduous, yellowish given, ca. 8 mm long, the lobes ovate, ca. 5 mm long, reflexed; stamens 10, the filaments white, flattened, adnate to the base of the corolla, the anthers golden yellow, the distal tube as long as the theca; ovary inferior, the style simple, the stigma subcapitate. Fruit fleshy, globose, 5-8 mm in diameter, cardinal red, with the calyx persistent on the apical portion. Seeds numerous, ca. 1 mm long, foveate, obtuse-trigonal.
Phenology - Flowering and fruiting from June to March.
Conservation Status - Native, rather common.