Neorudolphia volubilis (Willd.) Britton

• Title

  Neorudolphia volubilis (Willd.) Britton

• Authors

  Nathaniel Lord Britton, Frances W. Horne

• Scientific Name

  Neorudolphia volubilis (Willd.) Britton

• Description

  Flora Borinqueña Neorudolphia volubilis Bejuco colorado Family Fabaceae Pea Family Neorudolphia volubilis Britton; Britton & Wilson, Scientific Survey Porto Rico and Virgin islands 5: 426. 1924. Rudolphia volubilis Willdenow, Neue Schrifte Gesellschaft Freunde Berlin 2: 452. 1801. No English name has, to our knowledge, been applied, in literature, to this twining, woody vine, endemic in Porto Rico, where it is also known as Bejuco de alambac and Bejuco Prieto. It inhabits moist or wet districts, growing in thickets and woodlands, from lower to high elevations, but is nowhere common. The vine is strikingly conspicuous when in bloom, bearing long, dense, elegant clusters of bright red flowers, which are succeeded by flat pods containing many seeds. No attempt to grow it in gardens has come to our attention, but as an ornamental vine, horticultural experimentation would be well worth while. The generic name Rudolphia, published by Willdenow in 1801, is in honor of Carl Armund Rudolphi, a Danish botanist, who lived from 1771 to 1832. The same name had, however, been given by Medicus in 1767 to a very different plant of the Malpighia Family wherefore Neorudolphia has been substituted. In 1807 it was classified by Persoon as Butea volubilis, but Butea is quite a different genus. The specific name volubilis refers to its twining habit; several others have been given to it, but volubilis has priority. Botanically, the structure of the flowers makes it related to the tree known as Coral-tree or Piñon espinoso (Erythrina Corallodendrum) which grows in the dry, southwestern parts of Porto Rico, and to the Bucare or Bois immortelle native of Peru ( Erythrina Poeppigiana) which has been much planted for coffee-shade and along highways. This vine reaches a length of about 5 meters, the slender, young branches hairy. Its peculiar leaves consist of only one, ovate, long-pointed leaflet about 12 centimeters long, or shorter, borne on a long stalk and with two minute organs, known as stipels, at the end of the stalk just below the leaflet, showing that the leaf is really compound, as are the leaves of most plants of the Pea Family. The clusters of flowers are from 8 to 24 centimeters in length; the numerous individual flowers are short-stalked; the tubular, toothed calyx is red and 2.5 centimeters long, or shorter; one of the petals (the standard) is much larger than the others, oblong, notched, about 4 centimeters long, rose-colored, and is the most conspicuous part of the flower, the other petals (wings and keel) narrow, and only about 1 centimeter long; there are ten stamens, nine of them united by their filaments, and the style is slender. The pods are narrow, 6 to 8 centimeters long, about 1 centimeter wide, hairy, and split elastically when ripe, releasing the flattened, shining seeds.