Vigna hosei (Craib) Backer
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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 - Herbaceous vine, creeping or climbing, attaining 2-3 m in length, often forming a dense cover on the ground. Stems cylindrical, ca. 1 mm in diameter, greenish, ferruginous-pilose, much branched and producing roots in the area of the nodes. Leaves alternate, trifoliolate; leaflets chartaceous, with three main veins from the base, 2-4(5) x 1.5-2 cm, the apex obtuse or acute, both surfaces strigulose, the margins slightly undulate; terminal leaflet elliptical, obovate, or lanceolate, the base obtuse or rounded; lateral leaflets asymmetrical, with one side wider than the other, the base obtuse-rounded; petiolules pilose, ca. 1 mm long; rachis 4-10 mm long, striate, pilose; petioles 2-5 cm long, striate, pilose; stipules lanceolate, ca. 3 mm long, hastate at the base; stipels oblong or subulate, minute, persistent. Inflorescence of axillary pseudoracemes, 2-3(7) cm long, with 1-4 flowers in the distal portion (1-2 flowers per node); pedicels ca. 2 mm long. Calyx campanulate, ca. 1.5 mm long, the lobes ca. 0.7 mm long, triangular-subulate, ciliate; corolla pale yellow; standard broadly orbicular, 7-9 x 8-1 1 mm, the wings obovate, ca. 8 mm long, the keel ca. 7 mm long; ovary with two ovules, the stigma lobate. Legume oblong, almost cylindrical, 8-15 mm long, ca. 4 mm wide, pubescent, slightly compressed between the seeds. Seeds 1-2, oblong, ca. 5 mm long, dark reddish brown.
Phenology - Flowering throughout the year.
Conservation Status - Exotic, naturalized, locally common.