Oplonia microphylla (Lam.) Stearn
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Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
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Family
Acanthaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Erect or prostrate shrub with arching branches, 1-2 m long; stems obtusely quadrangular or cylindrical, densely covered with minute whitish hairs when young. Leaves usually clustered at nodes; blades 0.7-1.6 x 0.4-1.2 cm, ovate, obovate, elliptic, or narrowly elliptic, coriaceous, glabrous, with numerous cystoliths, the apex acute or obtuse, with a tuft of minute hairs, the base cuneate or attenuate, the margins revolute; petioles pubescent, ca. 1 mm long. Spines 0.4-1.2 cm long, straight, ascending, rarely perpendicular, pubescent. Flowers heterostylous, solitary or in condensed racemes, often with minute glandular hairs; bracts minute and awl-shaped. Calyx funnel-shaped, ca. 5 mm long, with 5 lanceolate, deeply cleft sepals; corolla lavender or pink, 1.8- 2.0 cm long, the tube white within. Capsule 2-2.2 cm long, club-shaped and glabrous. Seeds ca. 4 mm long, lenticular, 4 per capsule.
Distribution and Ecology - Frequent in coastal thickets. Salt Pond (A760); Southside Pond (A1813, W600). Also occurring on St. Croix and St. Thomas; widely distributed in the West Indies, and occurring in Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and Lesser Antilles south to the Grenadines