Hippobroma longiflora (L.) G.Don

  • Authority

    Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.

  • Family

    Campanulaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Hippobroma longiflora (L.) G.Don

  • Description

    Species Description - Erect or decumbent herb, to 50 cm tall, producing abundant milky exudate. Leaves alternate; blades 3-12 x 2-6 cm, lanceolate, elliptic, or oblanceolate, chartaceous, glabrous, the apex obtuse to acute and mucronate, the base attenuate, the margins repand-dentate. Flowers solitary. Calyx green, bell-shaped, with 5 linear, denticulate and ciliate margined lobes; corolla white, salverform, long-tubular (8-16 cm long), with 5 oblong spreading lobes; stamens 5, usually exserted, the anthers white; ovary of 5 locules with numerous ovules, the style long, projecting beyond the anthers. Fruit capsular, nearly bell-shaped, green, 6-9 mm diam. Seeds ellipsoid, ca. 1 mm long, brown.

    Distribution and Ecology - Uncommon along moist disturbed areas. Along road to Bordeaux (A3130), along trail to Sieben (A2065a). Also on St. Croix, St. Thomas, and Tortola; throughout the West Indies, southern Florida and tropical continental America, naturalized in the Old World.

  • Discussion

    The plant is said to be toxic to grazing animals and the milky exudate to be an irritant to skin and eyes