Agdestis clematidea Moq. & Sessé ex DC.
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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
Phytolaccaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Description - Twining vine, herbaceous, attaining 15 m in length. Stems angular, reddish, striate, puberulent. I ea\ es with a strong, disagreeable odor, alternate, chartaceous, ovate or broadly ovate, 3-9 x 3-7.5 cm, the apex obtuse or short-acuminate, mucronate, the base deeply cordiform or hastate, the margins crenulate; upper surface dark green, dull, with minute dots; lower surface light green, dull, puberulent, with prominent venation; petioles 1.5-9 cm long, with a reddish tinge, sulcate; stipules absent. Flowers bisexual, white, in axillary panicles, 6-17 cm long; peduncles glabrous or puberulent; pedicels 1-2 mm long, with a minute green bracteole, lanceolate, at the base. Sepals 4, white, 3-5 mm long, oblong or oblanceolate, with the parallel venation conspicuous; petals absent; stamens 13-20; ovary partially inferior, the style conical, with 4 recurved stigmatic branches; ovule solitary. Fruits coriaceous, indehiscent, turbinate, ca. 3 mm long, with the sepals persistent at the base. Seeds elliptical.
Phenology - Flowering from May to December.
Conservation Status - Exotic, cultivated and naturalized (according to Liogier, 1985), uncommon.