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:
Acanthaceae
Acanthaceae
Description:
Species Description - Erect subshrub, to 1.2 m tall, main stem with many lateral branches; stems hexagonal, glabrous except for a few hairs at nodes; young parts covered with glandular hairs. Leaf blades 1.5- 9 x 0.5-5 cm, ovate or lanceolate, chartaceous, glabrous except for a few hairs along veins, both surfaces presenting numerous cystoliths, the apex acute or long acuminate, the base obtuse or acute, the margins entire and ciliate; petioles slender, 0.2-2 cm long. Flowers dispersed along terminal spiciform panicles; bracts spatulate or awl-shaped, minute; bracteoles aggregate into an involucel, the outer connate at base, larger (0.5-0.7 cm), sparulate, with a prominent main vein, densely covered with glandular hairs. Calyx funnel-shaped, ca. 3 mm long, membranous, straw-colored, densely covered with appressed hairs; corolla scarlet or red-orange, 2-3 cm long. Capsule ca. 2 cm long, flattened, obovate, opening along 2 lateral valves. Seeds ca. 2 mm long, lenticular, brown, minutely spinulose, covered with glandular hairs.
Distribution and Ecology - A roadside weed found in open or disturbed areas. Cruz Bay (A3203), Lameshur (A3150). Also on St. Croix, St. Thomas, and Tortola; Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and from Mexico to northern South America to Brazil.
Species Description - Erect subshrub, to 1.2 m tall, main stem with many lateral branches; stems hexagonal, glabrous except for a few hairs at nodes; young parts covered with glandular hairs. Leaf blades 1.5- 9 x 0.5-5 cm, ovate or lanceolate, chartaceous, glabrous except for a few hairs along veins, both surfaces presenting numerous cystoliths, the apex acute or long acuminate, the base obtuse or acute, the margins entire and ciliate; petioles slender, 0.2-2 cm long. Flowers dispersed along terminal spiciform panicles; bracts spatulate or awl-shaped, minute; bracteoles aggregate into an involucel, the outer connate at base, larger (0.5-0.7 cm), sparulate, with a prominent main vein, densely covered with glandular hairs. Calyx funnel-shaped, ca. 3 mm long, membranous, straw-colored, densely covered with appressed hairs; corolla scarlet or red-orange, 2-3 cm long. Capsule ca. 2 cm long, flattened, obovate, opening along 2 lateral valves. Seeds ca. 2 mm long, lenticular, brown, minutely spinulose, covered with glandular hairs.
Distribution and Ecology - A roadside weed found in open or disturbed areas. Cruz Bay (A3203), Lameshur (A3150). Also on St. Croix, St. Thomas, and Tortola; Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and from Mexico to northern South America to Brazil.
Discussion:
Justicia assurgens L., Sp. PI. 23. 1753. Dicliptera assurgens (L.) Juss., Ann. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat. 9: 267. 1807. Diapedium assurgens (L.) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. PI. 2:485. 1891.
liptera portoricensis Nees in A. D C , Prodr. 11: 498. 1847 Dicliptera vahliana Nees in A. D C , Prodr. 11: 498. 1847.