Stictocardia tiliifolia (Desr.) Hallier f.

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Convolvulaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Stictocardia tiliifolia (Desr.) Hallier f.

  • Description

    Species Description - Subwoody twining vine to 5 m long, usually with numerous short lateral branches, producing scanty milky sap; stems cylindrical, slender, glabrous or pubescent. Leaf blades simple, 5-17 x 5-12 cm, chartaceous, ovate to subrounded, glabrous, the apex obtuse, acute, or short-acuminate and mucronate, the base cordate or sagittate, the margins wavy; petioles usually longer than blades, slightly furrowed. Flowers solitary or few in axillary, short-peduncled inflorescence. Calyx green, 1.7-2 cm long, the sepals glabrous, unequal, overlapping, ovate to rounded; corolla funnelshaped, pink or lavender, the tube violet within, to 8 cm long, the limb to 6 cm wide, with rounded lobes; anthers and stigmas pink, included. Fruit globose, 2.5-3 cm long, brown, covered by persistent accrescent sepals, late dehiscent by dissolution of fruit wall. Seeds obtusely 3-angled to rounded, 1 cm long, brown, velvety pubescent.

    Distribution and Ecology - Uncommon, found in open disturbed areas. Adrian Ruins (A2898, A3120, A4008). Also on St. Croix, St. Thomas, and Tortola; native to the Asian tropics, now widespread through cultivation.

  • Discussion

    Rivea campanulata sensu House, Muhlenbergia 5: 72. 1909, not as to type, non (L.) House, 1909.