Vigna longifolia (Benth.) Verdc.

  • Authority

    Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro. 2005. Vines and climbing plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 51: 1-483.

  • Family

    Fabaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Vigna longifolia (Benth.) Verdc.

  • Description

    Description - Herbaceous vine, creeping or climbing, attaining 2-3 m in length. Stems very slender, 0.5-1.5 mm in diameter, greenish, ferruginous-pilose or glabrous when mature, sometimes with roots in the area of the nodes. Leaves alternate, trifoliolate; leaflets chartaceous, with three main veins from the base, 2-6.2 x 0.4-2.2(3) cm, lanceolate or linear, the apex acute, the base rounded, the margins slightly undulate; both surfaces more or less strigulose; lateral leaflets slightly asymmetrical at the base; petiolules broadened, pilose, 1-2 mm long; rachis 2-6 mm long, canaliculate, pilose; petioles 2-5 cm long, canaliculate, pilose; stipules peltate in the center, glabrous, persistent, both ends oblong, up to 4 mm long, of the same length or one longer than the other; stipels oblong, ca. 0.5 mm long, persistent. Inflorescence of axillary pseudoracemes, 4-12(22) cm long, the flowers 2 per node, which are found in the distal portion of the inflorescence; pedicels ca. 2 mm long; bracteoles in pairs, at the base of the calyx, oblong, sparsely pilose, 3-5 mm long, deciduous. Calyx asymmetrically campanulate, 1.5-3 mm long, the lobes short, obtuse, similar; corolla pale yellow; standard obovate, ca. 8 mm long, the wings and the keel more or less of the same length as the standard. Legume oblong, compressed, 2.5-4 cm long, 6-7 mm wide, appressed-pubescent. Seeds 5-7, asymmetrically ellipsoid, ca. 5 mm long, reddish brown, shiny, the hilum whitish, ca. 2.5 mm long.

    Phenology - Collected in flower and fruit in March and in fruit in May.

    Conservation Status - Apparently exotic, naturalized, locally common. Although the existence of this species in Puerto Rico has been since the end of the nineteenth century, it seems to have been introduced, because this constitutes the only record lor the species in the Antilles.

  • Common Names

    habichuela cimarrona