Monographs Details:
Authority:
Acevedo-RodrÃguez, Pedro. 2005. Vines and climbing plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 51: 1-483.
Acevedo-RodrÃguez, Pedro. 2005. Vines and climbing plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 51: 1-483.
Family:
Fabaceae
Fabaceae
Description:
Description - Woody vine, twining, attaining 30 m in length. Stems cylindrical, glabrous, smooth, that turn blackish on drying, attaining up to 10 cm in diameter at the base and producing a watery sap with a pink color. Leaves alternate, trilbliolate, usually pendulous: leaflets coriaceous, glabrous, 7-14 x 4.5-7 cm, the margins entire, upper surface dark green, shiny, glabrous; lower surface light green (purple on juvenile leaflets), shiny, glabrous, with prominent puberulent venation; terminal leaflet elliptical or oblong, the apex acuminate, the base rounded; the lateral leaflets asymmetrical, elliptic-lanceolate, the apex acuminate, the base unequal, truncate-obtuse; petiolules slightly thickened, 5-6 mm long, glabrous or puberulent; stipels absent; petioles 4-9 cm long, striate, thickened at the base; stipules deciduous. Inflorescences of pendulous pseudoracemes; peduncles 1-1.5 m in length. Calyx 1.3-1.7 cm long, ferruginous-pubescent, with one of the sepals longer than the rest; pedicel ca. 2 cm long, ferruginous-pubescent; corolla blue-violet or cardinal red, the standard 3-4 cm long, the wings violet-pink, the keel yellowish, shorter than the wings. Legume woody, more or less oblong, flattened, 12-23 x 5-6 cm, the apex with a long point, the valves with prominent venation, like transverse ribs, which join at the ventral margin to form a sinuate projection, covered with rigid, rust-colored hairs, which separate with great facility and produce a sharp pain on contact. Seeds ca. 3.5 cm wide, circular, hard, brown with a black hilum along more than ¾ of the circumference.
Phenology - Collected in flower from October to April and in fruit in February.
Conservation Status - Native, locally common.
Description - Woody vine, twining, attaining 30 m in length. Stems cylindrical, glabrous, smooth, that turn blackish on drying, attaining up to 10 cm in diameter at the base and producing a watery sap with a pink color. Leaves alternate, trilbliolate, usually pendulous: leaflets coriaceous, glabrous, 7-14 x 4.5-7 cm, the margins entire, upper surface dark green, shiny, glabrous; lower surface light green (purple on juvenile leaflets), shiny, glabrous, with prominent puberulent venation; terminal leaflet elliptical or oblong, the apex acuminate, the base rounded; the lateral leaflets asymmetrical, elliptic-lanceolate, the apex acuminate, the base unequal, truncate-obtuse; petiolules slightly thickened, 5-6 mm long, glabrous or puberulent; stipels absent; petioles 4-9 cm long, striate, thickened at the base; stipules deciduous. Inflorescences of pendulous pseudoracemes; peduncles 1-1.5 m in length. Calyx 1.3-1.7 cm long, ferruginous-pubescent, with one of the sepals longer than the rest; pedicel ca. 2 cm long, ferruginous-pubescent; corolla blue-violet or cardinal red, the standard 3-4 cm long, the wings violet-pink, the keel yellowish, shorter than the wings. Legume woody, more or less oblong, flattened, 12-23 x 5-6 cm, the apex with a long point, the valves with prominent venation, like transverse ribs, which join at the ventral margin to form a sinuate projection, covered with rigid, rust-colored hairs, which separate with great facility and produce a sharp pain on contact. Seeds ca. 3.5 cm wide, circular, hard, brown with a black hilum along more than ¾ of the circumference.
Phenology - Collected in flower from October to April and in fruit in February.
Conservation Status - Native, locally common.
Common Names:
tortera, mato, Pica-pica, ox-eye-bean
tortera, mato, Pica-pica, ox-eye-bean