Callisia repens (Jacq.) 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
Commelinaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Prostrate, mat-forming herb; stems 1-2 mm diam., rooting at nodes, 10-25 cm long. Leaves spreading; blades 1-4 X 0.5-1.5 cm, cordate to lanceolate, fleshy but drying chartaceous, the apex acute, the base cordate, the margins ciliate; sheath tubular, 3-3.5 mm long, with long hairs at apex. Flowers small, in dense axillary paired cymes, enclosed by the sheath and leaf base; bracteoles filiform, ciliate, 6-7 mm long. Sepals oblong-elliptic, greenish, boat-shaped, 4-5 mm long; petals oblong, white-hyaline, as long as the sepals; stamens 0-6, the filaments ribbonlike, coiled, to 1 cm long, the anthers elliptic, basal on a kidney-shaped, white connective, ca. 0.5 mm long; ovary discoid bilocular, the style to 4.5 mm long, white, the stigma white. Capsule lenticular, ca. 1.7 mm long, opening from apex to the bottom.
Distribution and Ecology - Native to tropical and subtropical America; apparently introduced (and naturalized) on St. John; found along humid roadsides. Road to Ajax Peak (A2651), Waterlemon Bay (A1939), Lameshur (A3228). Also on St. Croix and Tortola; Texas, Mexico, Central America, West Indies, South America.