Neorudolphia volubilis
Diagnostic description 4
Neorudolphia volubilis (Willd.) Britton in Britton & Wilson, Bot. Porto Rico 5: 426. 1924.
Basionym: Rudolphia volubilis Willd.
Woody vine, twining, attainig 5-10 m in length. Stems strong, flexible, cylindrical, slightly flattened and with numerous lenticels when mature. Leaves alternate, unifoliolate; leaflets coriaceous, (5)6-13 × 4-9 cm, ovate or broadly ovate, the apex long- or short-acuminate, the base cordiform or less frequently truncate, the margins entire or sinuate, revolute; upper surface dark green, slightly shiny, with slightly prominent venation and puberulent; lower surface yellowish green, with the reticulate venation prominent; petiolule thickened, pubescent, 4-5 mm long, with a pair of stipels at the base; petioles 2.5-5 cm long, sulcate, puberulent, with the base broadened. Inflorescences of cauliflorous or axillary pseudoracemes, pendulous, 12-24 cm long, the flowers in groups of 2-3 per node of the inflorescence; pedicels 10-12 mm long, pink; bracts minute, lanceolate. Calyx 2.5-3 cm long, pink, fleshy, almost campanulate, the sepals 5, two of which are broad and rounded, the remaining three lanceolate; corolla brilliant red, the standard ca. 5 cm long, oblong, folded in half longitudinally, enclosing the stamens, the remaining 4 petals (the wings and two petals homologous to the keel, which are not fused) ca. 1.5 cm long, linear and recurved; stamens 10, diadelphous, ca. 4 cm long, slightly exposed; ovary short-stipitate, with numerous ovules, the style slender, elongate, sericeous, the stigma punctiform. Fruit an oblong legume, flattened, 6-12 × 1-1.5 cm, pubescent, dehiscent by valves that open in a spiral. Seeds oblong or ovoid, 6-8 mm long, light brown.
Phenology: Flowering from June to December and fruiting from November to April.
Status: Endemic, very common.
Selected Specimens Examined: Acevedo-Rdgz., P. 2984; Britton, N.L. 1059; 2010; Eggers, B. 1291; Shafer, J.A. 3227; Sintenis, P. 369; 1657; Stevenson, J.A. 240; Underwood, L.M. 91.
Distribution 5
Distribution: In the moist or wet forests of the Cordillera Central, the Sierra de Luquillo, and in the area of mogotes, at middle and upper elevations.
Public Forests: Carite, Guajataca, Guilarte, El Yunque, Maricao, Río Abajo, Susúa, and Toro Negro.
Sources and Credits
- (c) Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://collections.nmnh.si.edu/services/media.php?env=botany&irn=10351491
- (c) Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://collections.nmnh.si.edu/services/media.php?env=botany&irn=10386346
- (c) "<a href=""http://nt.ars-grin.gov/"">ARS Systematic Botany and Mycology Laboratory</a>. Puerto Rico.", some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://plants.usda.gov/java/largeImage?imageID=nevo_001_ahp.tif
- (c) Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/28435381
- (c) Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/28435858
