Pueraria phaseoloides (Roxb.) Benth.
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Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
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Family
Fabaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Herbaceous twining vine to 15 m long, profusely branched, forming dense tangles; branches cylindrical, pubescent. Leaves trifoliolate; leaflets 3-12 cm long, ovate to rhombic, the lateral ones asymmetric, chartaceous, silvery-pubescent on lower surface, the apex acute, the base cuneate in central leaflet, rounded-obtuse in laterals, the margins entire; petiolules swollen, 4-5 mm long, pubescent; rachis 2-2.5 cm long; petiole grooved, pubescent, to 12 cm long; stipules narrowly lanceolate, 3-5 mm long; stipels awl-shaped, minute, persistent. Pseudoracemes axillary, to 25 cm long, the flowers 2 or 3, borne on swollen nodes; bracts minute, persistent. Calyx ca. 5 mm long, pubescent; corolla lavender, the standard to 1.5 cm long, the wings lavender, the keel whitish. Legume 6-9 cm long, linear, flattened. Seeds few, ca. 3 mm long, oblong.
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Distribution
An occasional roadside weed. Along Center Line Road by entrance to Ajax Peak (W630), Maho Bay Quarter along Center Line Road (A2411). This aggressive species, native to Southeast Asia, has been introduced into the New World as a forage and erosion-control plant; it has become naturalized in some areas of the neotropics.
Asia|