Spermacoce assurgens Ruiz & Pav.

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Rubiaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Spermacoce assurgens Ruiz & Pav.

  • Description

    Species Description - Erect or decumbent subshrub 30-50 cm tall, many-branched from base; twigs nearly cylindrical, sparsely pubescent to glabrate. Leaf blades 2.5-5.5 x 0.5-1.7 cm, elliptic, chartaceous, glabrous, the apex acute, the base long-tapering, narrowed to the petiole, the margins strigillose; petioles ca. 0.5 mm long; stipule sheath 4-6 mm long, with numerous bristles. Flowers in axillary and terminal heads; bracts linear. Hypanthium 2-2.5 mm long, flattened, club-shaped, pubescent along margins, the lobes ca. 0.8 mm long; corolla white, nearly funnel-shaped, the tube ca. 1.5 mm long, the lobes oblong, 0.5 mm long; stamens 4, exserted; style exserted, the stigma capitate. Capsule ellipsoid, 2-3 mm long, the cocci opening lengthwise from the apex. Seeds ellipsoid, 1.5-2 mm long, light brown, transversely furrowed.

  • Discussion

    Spermacoce suffrutescens Jacq., PL Hort. Schoenbr. 3: 40, t. 322. 1801 .

    Borreria laevis sensu authors, non (Lam.) Griseb., 1861.

  • Distribution

    A common weed of open disturbed areas, especially along roadsides. Coral Bay Quarter along road to Bordeaux (A3827), Cruz Bay Quarter along trail to Sieben (A2074). Also on St. Croix and Tortola; throughout tropical America, introduced and naturalized in tropical Africa and Asia.

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