Urvillea ulmacea

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Urvillea ulmacea

Description

Subwoody vine, 3-7 m long, not producing milky sap. Young stems obtusely pentagonal, pubescent, becoming deeply 3-lobed, lenticellate and glabrous with age. Stipules deltate, ca. 1 mm long, early deciduous. Leaves trifoliolate; petiole 1.5-4 cm long, unwinged; leaflets chartaceous, sparsely pubescent on abaxial surface and margins, with acuminate apex and serrate margins; distal leaflets ovate or ovate-lanceolate, the base obtuse, abruptly narrowed into a decurrent petiolule-like base; lateral leaflets asymmetrical, oblong-ovate, the base unequal, rounded or subcordate. Thyrses axillary, racemiform, 3-12 cm long, the axes glabrous or pubescent; cincinni few-flowered, arranged along the axis that is distal to a pair of tendrils. Sepals greenish, glabrous or puberulent, usually with ciliate margins, the outer sepals ca. 1.2 mm long, inner sepals 1.5-1.7 mm long; petals white, spatulate, ca. 2 mm long, with an apically yellow appendage; disc 4-lobed; stamens 8, the filaments sparsely pubescent. Capsule with elliptic or obovate outline, trigonous, stipitate, 2-2.5(4.7) cm long, turning from green to straw-colored, with one seed per locule.

Distribution

Lesser Antilles present, Northern America, Southern America: Cuba (Cuba present), Trinidad present, northern Argentina present
Widely distributed from Mexico through Central America south to northern Argentina, Cuba, the Lesser Antilles, and Trinidad (GU: 7; SU: 1; FG: 7).

Common Name

English (French Guiana): sipap-sili, teikwaw sili