Triumfetta lappula L.
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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
Malvaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Erect shrub or subshrub, (0.5-)l-2 m tall, much branched stems densely stellate-pubescent to tomentose, the hairs ferruginous. Leaf blades 3.5-15.1 x 2.8-14 cm, simple or 3- to 5-lobed, the middle lobe often broadest near the apex, broadly ovat to nearly circular, chartaceous, stellate-pubescent above, densely, stellate-pubescent to tomentose below, the apex acute to rounded the middle lobe usually shallowly acuminate, the base truncate to cuneate or subcordate, the margins toothed, teeth often glandular petioles 0.7-10.6 cm long; stipules 3.5-6 mm long, subulate Flowers bisexual, produced in cymes of 2(-3) condensed cymules propeduncles 2-3 mm long; pedicels 1-3 mm long. Sepals yellow, 4-6 mm long, linear-oblong, the appendages ca. 0.5 mm long petals, androgynophore, glands, and disk absent; stamens (5-)10(-15); ovary suborbicular, ca. 1-1.5 mm tall, the style ca. 3 mm long the stigma entire or very briefly bifid. Fruit (excluding spines) ca. 2-3 mm diam., broadly ellipsoid to subordibcular, green turning brown at maturity, conspicuously stellate- pubescent, (2-)3 locular, each locule 1-seeded , the spines numerous, 1.5 - 3 mm long, retrorsely pilosulous, Seeds ca. 2mm long, ovoid to pyriform, smooth.
Distribution and Ecology - A weed of waste places and thickets. Trail to Reed Bay (A2724). Also on St. Croix, St. Thomas, and Tortola; common throughout tropical America and also reported from the Cape Verde islands and Mauritius.
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Discussion
Common Name: maho