Plumbago scandens L.

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Plumbaginaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Plumbago scandens L.

  • Description

    Species Description - Scrambling shrub, 2-3 m long, often many-branched from base and with numerous lateral branches along main stem; stems cylindrical, striate, glabrous. Leaf blades 3-13 x 1-6 cm, ovate, oblong-lanceolate, spatulate to oblanceolate, chartaceous, glabrous lepidote-punctate underneath, the apex acute, acuminate, or obtuse, the base obtuse to rounded, or cuneate to attenuate sometimes unequal, the margins entire; petioles 5-10 mm long. Flowers heterostylous, in long terminal panicles; the axes to 30 cm long, glabrous, striate, sparsely covered with sessile glands; bracteoles ca. 2 mm long, elliptic; pedicels to 1 mm long. Calyx green, 7-11 mm long, the ribs with long stipitate, sticky glands; corolla white, the tube 1.2-2 cm long, the lobes 0.5-1 cm long, spreading, obovate and mucronate; stamens exserted, the anthers light violet. Fruit oblong, concealed by the persistent sticky glandular calyx.

  • Discussion

    Common names: blister leaf, guinea leaf.

  • Distribution

    A common roadside weed. Road to Bordeaux (A1893), Maria Bhiff (A627). Also on St. Croix, St. Thomas, and Tortola; common throughout tropical America.

    Tortola Virgin Islands South America| Saint Thomas Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Saint Croix Virgin Islands of the United States South America|