Mansoa hymenaea (DC.) A.H.Gentry
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Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro. 2005. Vines and climbing plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 51: 1-483.
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Family
Bignoniaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Description - Woody vine, with a strong odor of garlic, which climbs by tendrils, 3-5 m in length. Young stems angular to subcylindrical, striate, puberulous to glabrous; mature stems cylindrical, lenticellate; cross section with a cross of four arms, formed by the phloem tissue; nodes slightly compressed, with a glandular interpetiolar zone; pseudostipules keeled, 2-3 mm long. Leaves opposite, 2-foliolate, with a terminal trifid tendril, early deciduous; leaflets 6-10 x 2.5-6 cm, elliptical or ovate, chartaceous, the apex acute, obtuse, or acuminate, the base acute, obtuse, or rounded, sometimes unequal, the margins undulate; upper surface dull, glabrous, with the venation slightly prominent; petioles and petiolules puberulous; petioles 1.3-3.5 cm long, the petiolules slightly keeled by the decurrent base of the blade, 1-2.6 cm long. Flowers few in axillary racemes, 5-20 cm long; peduncles keeled. Calyx green, campanulate, puberulous, 8-9 mm long, truncate or denticulate, ciliate and with a purple tinge at the apex; corolla violet-pink or lavender, infundibuliform, 4.5-6.5 cm long, the tube lighter than the lobes, the limb 2.5-4 cm in diameter, with 5 rounded lobes; stamens inserted; ovary cylindrical, lepidote. Capsule linear, long-acuminate compressed, coriaceous, light brown, 15-25 x 1.7-2 cm, with a longitudinal vein in the middle portion of each of the valves; seeds numerous, 2-winged, oblong, membranaceous, ca. 3.3 cm long. prominent; lower surface light green, dull, sparsely punctate-glandular, without glands in the axils of the secondary veins, the venation slightly prominent; petioles and petiolules puberulous; petioles 1.3-3.5 cm long, the petiolules slightly keeled by the decurrent base of the blade, 1-2.6 cm long. Flowers few in axillary racemes, 5-20 cm long; peduncles keeled. Calyx green, campanulate, puberulous, 8-9 mm long, truncate or denticulate, ciliate and with a purple tinge at the apex; corolla violet-pink or lavender, infundibuliform, 4.5-6.5 cm long, the tube lighter than the lobes, the limb 2.5-4 cm in diameter, with 5 rounded lobes; stamens inserted; ovary cylindrical, lepidote. Capsule linear, long-acuminate compressed, coriaceous, light brown, 15-25 x 1.7-2 cm, with a longitudinal vein in the middle portion of each of the valves; seeds numerous, 2-winged, oblong, membranaceous, ca. 3.3 cm long.
Phenology - Flowering from December to May and fruiting from January to May.
Conservation Status - Exotic, cultivated and naturalized, uncommon.
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Common Names
bejuco de ajo, mata de ajo