Monographs Details:
Authority:
Acevedo-RodrÃguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
Acevedo-RodrÃguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
Family:
Bignoniaceae
Bignoniaceae
Description:
Species Description - Liana to 20 m long, many-branched from base; bark grayish and fissured; young stems 4-angled, mature stems cylindrical. Leaves 2-foliolate, the unbranched tendril deciduous, 4-20 cm long; leaflets drying brown or greenish, 5.5-16 x 2.5-9 cm, ovate, oblong or elliptic, chartaceous, glabrous, lower surface sparsely covered with dotlike scales, the apex obtuse, acute, or acuminate, the base obtuse to nearly cordate, the margins entire; petioles and petiolules 4-angular, the petiolules 0.8-4 cm long, pubescent or glabrous, the petiole 0.9-4.5 cm long. Flowers fragrant, in axillary or terminal panicles. Calyx cup-shaped with truncate or denticulate apex, 4-10 mm long, pubescent or covered with dotlike scales, yellowish; corolla zygomorphic, tubular to bell-shaped, 2.5-7.5 cm long, the tube slightly flattened, narrower at base, white without, yellowish within, the lobes rounded, lavender, the upper lobes nearly reflexed, the lower expanded, the throat yellowish, with vertical, dark violet lines; stamens included; ovary cylindrical, 2-3 mm long, without a disk at base, the stigma bilobed. Capsule 21-43 x 1.5-2.4 cm, with slightly prominent margins. Seeds 1.5-2 cm long, brown, with a membranous wing.
Distribution and Ecology - Along coastal plains, usually near mangrove swamps. Fish Bay (A2810). Also on St. Croix and St. Thomas; throughout tropical America.
Species Description - Liana to 20 m long, many-branched from base; bark grayish and fissured; young stems 4-angled, mature stems cylindrical. Leaves 2-foliolate, the unbranched tendril deciduous, 4-20 cm long; leaflets drying brown or greenish, 5.5-16 x 2.5-9 cm, ovate, oblong or elliptic, chartaceous, glabrous, lower surface sparsely covered with dotlike scales, the apex obtuse, acute, or acuminate, the base obtuse to nearly cordate, the margins entire; petioles and petiolules 4-angular, the petiolules 0.8-4 cm long, pubescent or glabrous, the petiole 0.9-4.5 cm long. Flowers fragrant, in axillary or terminal panicles. Calyx cup-shaped with truncate or denticulate apex, 4-10 mm long, pubescent or covered with dotlike scales, yellowish; corolla zygomorphic, tubular to bell-shaped, 2.5-7.5 cm long, the tube slightly flattened, narrower at base, white without, yellowish within, the lobes rounded, lavender, the upper lobes nearly reflexed, the lower expanded, the throat yellowish, with vertical, dark violet lines; stamens included; ovary cylindrical, 2-3 mm long, without a disk at base, the stigma bilobed. Capsule 21-43 x 1.5-2.4 cm, with slightly prominent margins. Seeds 1.5-2 cm long, brown, with a membranous wing.
Distribution and Ecology - Along coastal plains, usually near mangrove swamps. Fish Bay (A2810). Also on St. Croix and St. Thomas; throughout tropical America.
Discussion:
Bignonia hostmannii E. Mey., Nova Acta Phys.-Med. Acad. Caes. Leop.-Carol. Nat. Cur. 12: 779. 1825. Cydista amoena Miers, Proc. Roy. Hort. Soc. London 3: 191. 1863.
Common name: guard wiss.