Diagnostic description ²

Lepidaploa borinquensis (Urb.) H. Rob., Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 103: 483. 1990.

Fig. 34. G-K

Basionym: Vernonia borinquensis Urb.

Synonyms: Vernonia borinquensis Urb. var. stahlii Urb.

Vernonia borinquensis Urb. var. hirsuta Gleason

Vernonia borinquensis Urb. var. resinosa Gleason

Slightly woody shrub, usually clambering, 1-4 (5) m in length. Stems slender, cylindrical, densely pubescent and striate when young, glabrescent. Leaves alternate, distichous; blades 3-6 × 1.8-2.8 cm, coriaceous or rigid-coriaceous, ovate to lanceolate, the apex acute or acuminate, the base rounded or subcordiform, the margins ciliate, slightly undulate, and revolute; upper surface shiny, pubescent, scabrid, the venation usually sunken, covered with yellowish simple hairs; lower surface pale green, dull, with glandular dots, pubescent or sericeous, the venation prominent and pubescent; petioles 2-4 mm long, pubescent. Capitula of 13-22 flowers, sessile or short-pedunculate, solitary, axillary at the end of short and flexuous branches; involucre campanulate, 5-9 mm high; phyllaries subulate, the basal series smaller than the distal ones. Corollas white or pale violet, 5-6 mm long, with five lanceolate to linear petals; anthers exserted; style pubescent, bifid. Achene ca. 1.3 mm long, conical, pubescent; pappus of bristles 5-6 mm long and scales ca. 0.8 mm long.

Phenology: Flowering from November to July and fruiting from February to September.

Status: Endemic to Puerto Rico, common.

Selected Specimens Examined: Acevedo-Rdgz., P. 3053; 7065; 7154; 7924; 9421; 10204; Heller, A.A. 4391.

Distribution ³

Distribution: In forests and pastures of the Cordillera Central and the zone of mogotes.

Public forest: Carite, Guajataca, Guilarte, Maricao, Río Abajo, and Toro Negro.

Sources and Credits

1. (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=10350765
2. (c) Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/28435130
3. (c) Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/28435695

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