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Cryptostegia grandiflora

Diagnostic description 2

Cryptostegia grandiflora R. Br., Bot. Reg. tab. 435. 1820.

Fig. 25. E-H

Woody vine, twining, attaining 6 m in length, with abundant milky latex. Stems cylindrical, glabrous or pilose in the area of the nodes, dark brown, with numerous minute lenticels. Leaves opposite; blades 5-10 × 2-6.3 cm, elliptical to rounded, membranaceous, glabrous, the apex acute or obtuse, the base obtuse to rounded, decurrent on the petiole, without glands at the union with the petiole, the margins entire; venation pinnate, with 11-13 pairs of secondary veins; upper surface dull; lower surface pale, with obscure venation; petioles glabrous, 17-10 mm long; stipules interpetiolar and intrapetiolar. Flowers 6-9, arranged in dichasial cymes, pedunculate; bracts foliaceous, ovate, 1-1.2 cm long. Calyx green, campanulate, the sepals ovate, pubescent, 1-1.5 cm long; corolla infundibuliform, 5-7 cm long, violet, whitish inside, the tube ca. 2 cm long; corona with bifid, lanceolate lobes, ca. 1.5 cm long. Follicles 2, divergent, brown when mature, 10-15.4 cm long, boat-shaped (keeled), woody; seeds reddish brown, ovate-lanceolate, 3-4 mm long, with long, white, silky hairs.

Phenology: Flowering and fruiting throughout the year.

Status: Exotic, uncommon, cultivated and naturalized.

Distribution 3

Distribution: Along the coast. Also on Vieques. Native to Madagascar, but widely cultivated in the Neotropics.

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) Jayesh Patil, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), http://www.flickr.com/photos/31196650@N04/3825468237
  2. (c) Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/28435095
  3. (c) Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/28435672

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