Vigna adenantha (G.Mey.) Maréchal, Mascherpa & Stainier
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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
Fabaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Description - Slightly woody vine, twining, climbing, attaining 3-5 m in length. Stems slender, almost cylindrical, glabrous or pilose. Leaves alternate, trifoliolate; leaflets chartaceous, with three principal veins from the base, the apex acute, obtuse, or acuminate, the upper surface glabrous, sometimes sparsely appressed-pubescent, the lower surface pale green, appressed-pubescent, especially on the prominent veins, the margins deeply sinuate; terminal leaflet lanceolate or ovate, 3-9.5(15.5) x 1.5-5.3(9.6) cm, the base cuneate or obtuse; lateral leaflets markedly asymmetrical, with one side elliptical and the other ovate or lanceolate, the base cuneate-obtuse; petiolules pubescent, 2-5 mm long; rachis 1-2 cm long, striate, pilose; petioles canaliculate, striate, pilose or glabrous, 3-9.5 cm long; stipules triangular, 3-4 mm long, glabrous, conspicuously veined, truncate at the base; stipels oblong, ca. 2 mm long. Inflorescence of axillary pseudoracemes, 4-12 cm long, with 2 flowers per node; peduncle appressed-pubescent or glabrous; pedicels 1 .6-2 mm long, glabrous; bracts in pairs, lanceolate, deciduous. Calyx green, glabrous, campanulate, 5-7.5 mm long, with 3 lanceolate lobes, longer than the two central ones, which are rounded and fused; corolla pale violet; standard reniform, retuse at the apex, 2.2-3 cm long and up to 2.5 cm wide, pale violet, whitish toward the margins, with the vexillar callus yellow; wings 2.2-2.5 cm long, obovate, twisted, enclosing the keel, pale violet, dark violet toward the apex, or sometimes pale yellow; keel up to 3 cm wide, pale violet to whitish, spirally twisted at the apex (½ -1½ turns). Legume oblong, curved, flattened, the area of the seeds slightly prominent. 7-11 cm long, 8-9 mm wide, puberulent, scabrous along the margins, the apex acute, recurved. Seeds 11-16, almost circular, flattened, ca. 6 mm wide, dark brown.
Phenology - Collected in flower and fruit from December to April.
Conservation Status - Probably native, rather common.
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Common Names
habichuela cimarrona