Talinum fruticosum (L.) Juss.
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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
Talinaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Erect subshrub to 50 cm tall, many-branched from a woody base, with a long taproot; stems succulent, glabrous, reddishtinged to burgundy-colored. Leaf blades 2.5-4.5 x 1.1-2.2 cm, obovate to oblanceolate, fleshy, glabrous, lighter underneath, the apex rounded, obtuse, retuse and usually mucronulate, the base narrowed to a slender petiole, 3-7 mm long, the margins entire. Flowers in terminal racemose inflorescences, 2-10 cm long. Sepals 5-6 mm long, green, lanceolate, persistent; petals 5, 6-10 mm long, light yellow or magenta, imbricate, elliptic, apiculate. Capsule 5-6 mm wide, globose, irregularly opening. Seeds ca. 1 mm long, reddish brown to black, tuberculate.
Distribution and Ecology - A common plant of open disturbed areas, very often along roadsides. Lameshur (A2749), Mary Point (A2527). Also on St. Croix and St. Thomas; throughout the Greater and Lesser Antilles, Mexico, Central and South America.
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Discussion
Portulaca triangularis Jacq., Enum. Syst. PL 22. 1760. Talinum triangulare (Jacq.) Willd., Sp. PL 2: 862. 1799.