Banisteria laurifolia L.

• Title

  Banisteria laurifolia L.

• Authors

  Nathaniel Lord Britton, Frances W. Horne

• Scientific Name

  Banisteria laurifolia L.

• Description

  Flora Borinqueña Banisteria laurifolia Bejuco de buey Dragon Withe Family Malpighiaceae Malpighia Family Banisteria laurifolia Linnaeus, Species Plantarum, Edition 2: 611. 1762. Heteropteris laurifolia A. Jussieu, Annales des Science Naturelles II. 13: 276. 1840. This yellow- flowered, large-leaved vine is occasional in Porto Rico thickets, woodlands and along streams at elevations from near sea-level up to at least 500 meters elevation, in moist and dry districts. Its geographic distribution is through the Greater Antilles, and in Mexico and Central America; there is a record of its former occurrence on the Virgin Island St. Croix. The clusters of small, bright yellow flowers are attractive. For an account of the genus Banisteria we refer to our description of Banisteria purpurea. Banisteria laurifolia (laurel-leaved) is usually a woody vine, from 2 to 5 meters long, but is sometimes shrubby and scarcely climbing. The pointed leaves, rather firm in texture, are various in form, from oblong or elliptic, to lance-shaped, ovate, or obovate, and they vary from 5 to 15 centimeters long, and from 2 to 9 centimeters wide; they are netted-veined, smooth when old, reddish-hairy when young, their stalks from 5 to 10 millimeters long. The oblong, or lance-shaped sepals are from 2.5 to 4 millimeters long, the larger petals from 5 to 7 millimeters long. The samaras are 3.5 to 4 centimeters long.