Vigna longifolia
Diagnostic description 1
Vigna longifolia (Benth.) Verdc., Kew Bull. 24: 541. 1970.
Basionym: Phaseolus longifolius Benth.
Synonyms: Phaseolus lanceolatus Bello
Phaseolus ovatus Benth.
Herbaceous vine, creeping or climbing, attainig 2-3 m in length. Stems very slender, 0.5-1.5 mm in diameter, greenish, ferruginous-pilose or glabrous when mature, sometimes with roots in the area of the nodes. Leaves alternate, trifoliolate; leaflets chartaceous, with three main veins from the base, 2-6.2 × 0.4-2.2(3) cm, lanceolate or linear, the apex acute, the base rounded, the margins slightly undulate; both surfaces more or less strigulose; lateral leaflets slightly asymmetrical at the base; petiolules broadened, pilose, 1-2 mm long; rachis 2-6 mm long, canaliculate, pilose; petioles 2-5 cm long, canaliculate, pilose; stipules peltate in the center, glabrous, persistent, both ends oblong, up to 4 mm long, of the same length or one longer than the other; stipels oblong, ca. 0.5 mm long, persistent. Inflorescence of axillary pseudoracemes, 4-12(22) cm long, the flowers 2 per node, which are found in the distal portion of the inflorescence; pedicels ca. 2 mm long; bracteoles in pairs, at the base of the calyx, oblong, sparsely pilose, 3-5 mm long, deciduous. Calyx asymmetrically campanulate, 1.5-3 mm long, the lobes short, obtuse, similar; corolla pale yellow; standard obovate, ca. 8 mm long, the wings and the keel more or less of the same length as the standard. Legume oblong, compressed, 2.5-4 cm long, 6-7 mm wide, appressed-pubescent. Seeds 5-7, asymmetrically ellipsoid, ca. 5 mm long, reddish brown, shiny, the hilum whitish, ca. 2.5 mm long.
Phenology: Collected in flower and fruit in March and in fruit in May.
Status: Apparently exotic, naturalized, locally common. Although the existence of this species in Puerto Rico has been since the end of the nineteenth century, it seems to have been introduced, because this constitutes the only record for the species in the Antilles.
Selected Specimens Examined: Britton, N.L. 6751.
Sources and Credits
- (c) Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/28435402
More Info
- iNat taxon page
- Biodiversity Heritage Library
- BOLD Systems BIN search
- eFloras.org
- Flora of North America (beta)
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
- HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants
- IPNI (with links to POWO, WFO, and BHL)
- NatureServe Explorer 2.0
- SEINet Symbiota portals
- Tropicos
- World Flora Online
