Diagnostic description ⁴

Gouania polygama (Jacq.) Urb., Symb. Antill. 4: 378. 1910.

Fig. 144. I-N

Basionym: Rhamnus polygamus Jacq.

Synonym: Gouania tomentosa Jacq.

Woody vine that climbs by means of tendrils and attains 8-15 m in length. Stems grayish, attaining 3 cm in diameter. Branches green, ferruginous-tomentose, slightly striate; tendrils simple, semicircular, basal to the inflorescences or distal on short lateral branches. Leaves alternate, 5-15 × 3.2-7.5 cm, broadly elliptical, oblong, or ovate, chartaceous, the apex obtuse, acute, or short-acuminate, the base subcordiform or rounded, the margins serrate; upper surface dark green, slightly shiny, pubescent; lower surface pale green, dull, pilose, with prominent venation; petioles 1-1.5 cm long, pubescent. Inflorescences of axillary or terminal racemes, 10-22 cm long. Calyx 1.5-2 mm long, cupuliform, whitish, tomentose, the sepals ovate, 0.7-1 mm long; petals whitish, ca. 1 mm long, spathulate, enclosing the stamens; stamens as long as the petals; disc almost pentagonal, fleshy; styles 3. Fruit a three-winged schizocarp, 8-12 mm long, dehiscent into 3 indehiscent mericarps, trigonal, with a wing on each side of the seminiferous center. Seeds ovate, light brown, shiny, ca. 3 mm long.

Phenology: Collected in flower from October to November and in fruit from December to January.

Status: Native, locally common.

Selected Specimens Examined: Acevedo-Rdgz., P. 7139; 7811; Sargent, F.H. s.n.; 351; Sintenis, P. 36; 3566; 5577.

Distribution ⁵

Distribution: In disturbed areas, more or less moist, at middle elevations, in western and central Puerto Rico. Also in Cuba, Hispaniola, Tobago, Trinidad, and tropical continental America.

Public Forests: Guánica, Guajataca, Guilarte, Río Abajo, and Susúa.

Sources and Credits

1. (c) 2008 Alex V. Popovkin, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?seq_num=259167&one=T
2. (c) 2008 Alex V. Popovkin, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?seq_num=259169&one=T
3. (c) 2008 Alex V. Popovkin, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?seq_num=251353&one=T
4. (c) Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/28435496
5. (c) Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/28435935

More Info

• iNat taxon page
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• BOLD Systems BIN search
• Catalogo de Plantas y Líquenes de Colombia
• 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

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