Ginoria rohrii (Vahl) Koehne

• Title

  Ginoria rohrii (Vahl) Koehne

• Authors

  Nathaniel Lord Britton, Frances W. Horne

• Scientific Name

  Ginoria rohrii (Vahl) Koehne

• Description

  Flora Borinqueña Ginoria Rohrii Rosa de cienega Bastard Gregre Family Lythraceae Loosestrife Family Antherylium Rohrii Vahl, Naturhistorie Selskabet Skrivter. 21: 211. 1792. Ginoria Rohrii Koehne, Botanische Jahrbucher 3: 351. 1882. A small, prickly tree, or shrub, reaching maximum height of about 5 meters, sometimes elegant when in bloom, its branches densely clothed with small white flowers, and bearing the young, bright green leaves above. It inhabits coastal parts of the northern West Indies, from Santo Domingo to Virgin Gorda, and has been recorded also from St. Vincent. In Porto Rico it grows in the dry districts along and near the southern and eastern coasts, along the shore of Lake Guanica, and on Vieques Island, often within saline influence, near mangrove swamps. The Spanish name Ucarillo is also applied to this little tree. Ginoria, established a genus by Jacquin in 1760, includes about 10 species of West Indian shrubs and small trees, only the one here described growing in Porto Rico. The name commemorates Carlo Ginori, an Italian botanist. Some of the species are prickly, some unarmed. They have opposite, untoothed leaves, and stalked axillary or lateral flowers, clustered, or solitary. The hemispheric, or top-shaped calyx has from 4 to 6 lobes, and there are from 4 to 6 separate petals; the 10 to 20 stamens are borne on the calyx, their filaments very slender; the pistil has a nearly globular ovary, a slender style, and a small, round stigma. The dry, capsular fruit splits at maturity, releasing the many, small seeds. Ginoria Rohrii (in honor of Julius van Rohr, Danish botanist) has nearly upright branches, the 4-angled twigs bearing 2 to 4, curved, small prickles at the nodes. The thin, smooth, ovate, elliptic, or obovate leaves, blunt, or pointed and short-stalked, are from 3 to 8.5 centimeters long. The bright white flowers are clustered or solitary, on slender, smooth stalks 2 to 13 millimeters long; the calyx is about 6 millimeters long, its lobes much longer than its tube; the obovate petals are from 6 to 9 millimeters long. The globose-ovoid capsule is about as long as the persistent calyx.