Merremia cissoides
Diagnostic description 3
Merremia cissoides (Lam.) H. Hallier, Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 16: 552. 1893.
Basionym: Convolvulus cissoides Lam.
Synonym: Ipomoea cissoides (Lam.) Griseb.
Herbaceous vine, twining, 3-5 m in length, with scarce watery latex. Stems cylindrical, slender, glandular-pubescent and frequently hispidulous, glabrescent. Leaves alternate; blades 5-palmately compound, 2-7.2 × 1.2-3.3 cm, chartaceous; leaflets elliptical, ovate, or ovatelanceolate, the apex obtuse, the base acute, the margins entire or slightly dentate; upper surface glabrous; lower surface glandular-pubescent or glabrous; petiolules ca. 1 mm long, glandularpubescent; petioles slender, hispidulous, glandular-pubescent, 2-3 (6) cm long. Flowers in simple or double dichasial cymes; peduncles longer than the petioles; bracts persistent, subulate. Calyx green, the sepals unequal, 1-1.5 cm long, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, glandularpubescent externally, acuminate at the apex; corolla white, with the center purple, infundibuliform, 2-3 cm long, the limb 5-lobed, (2.2)3-4 cm in diameter; stamens and stigmas white, not exserted. Capsules globose, 6-8 mm in diameter, light brown, glabrous, with the sepals persistent; seeds ellipsoid, ca. 6 mm long, grayish, lanate.
Phenology: Collected in flower in February.
Status: Native, rare.
Selected Specimens Examined: Acevedo-Rdgz., P. 9348; Liogier, A.H. 31319.
Distribution 4
Distribution: Occasional in disturbed areas at lower elevations in eastern Puerto Rico. Also in Cuba, continental tropical America, and tropical Asia.
Public forest: Guánica (according to Quevedo et al., 1990).
Sources and Credits
- (c) João Medeiros, some rights reserved (CC BY), https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Merremia_cissoides.jpg
- (c) Mark Hyde, Bart Wursten and Petra Ballings, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), https://www.zimbabweflora.co.zw/speciesdata/images/14/148010-1.jpg
- (c) Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/28435260
- (c) Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/28435782
