Diagnostic description ²

Metastelma parviflorum (Sw.) R. Br., Mem. Wern. Soc. 1: 52. 1809.

Fig. 31. L-P

Basionym: Cynanchum parviflorum Sw.

Synonym: Cynanchum parviflorum (R. Br.) Alain, nom. illegit.

Herbaceous vine, twining, 5-6 m in length, with abundant milky latex. Stems green, cylindrical, glabrous or puberulous, 2-3 mm in diameter. Leaves perennial, opposite; blades 1.4-3.5 × 0.8-1.5 cm, lanceolate or ovate, chartaceous, the venation pinnate, the apex acute or obtuse, usually mucronate, the base rounded, the margins entire or slightly undulate, revolute; upper surface glabrous, green, dull, with the midvein sunken, with a pair of acicular glands at the union with the petiole, these sometimes deciduous; lower surface pale green, dull, glabrous, with prominent venation. Flowers few, in sessile or shortpedicellate cymes; pedicels 1- 2.5 mm long. Calyx crateriform, green, puberulous, the sepals ovate, ca. 1 mm long, ciliate; corolla campanulate, 3-3.5 mm long, greenish outside, the lobes oblong, acute, ca. 2 mm long, pubescent inside, white along the margin and green in the central portion; corona white, the segments linear, ca. 2 mm long; gynostegium stipitate (1.5-2 mm long). Follicles fusiform, 4-6 cm long, divaricate, glabrous; seeds numerous, lanceolate, brown, ca. 5 mm long, with a tuft of silky hairs at the apex.

Phenology: Flowering from October to May and fruiting from October to April.

Status: Native, quite common.

Selected Specimens Examined: Acevedo-Rdgz., P. 399; 1074; 3074; 5386; 6174; 7919; 10177; Britton, N.L. 55; 311; 1430; 1581; 1927; 2701; 5885; Fosberg, F.R. 58870a; Ricksecker, A.E. 170; Ricksecker, Mrs. J.J. 146; Sargent, F.H. 124; 3189; Sintenis, P. 861; 3813; Stevenson, J.A. 518.

Distribution ³

Distribution: Throughout Puerto Rico in areas of secondary or disturbed vegetation, at lower elevations. Also on St. Croix, St. Thomas, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda; the Lesser Antilles, Trinidad, and Isla Margarita.

Public forest: Guánica, Piñones, Río Abajo, and Tortuguero.

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=10109379
2. (c) Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/28435117
3. (c) Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/28435688

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