Paullinia fibulata

Primary tabs

Paullinia fibulata

Description

Woody vine 10-15 m long. Stems terete, pubescent or tomentulose, glabrescent, producing scanty milky sap; cross section with a single vascular cylinder. Leaves pinnately 5-foliolate; petiole and rachis unwinged, terete, striate, tomentulose to nearly glabrous; petioles 5-10 cm long; rachis 3-6 cm long; petiolules 3-6 mm long; leaflets coriaceous, abaxial surface sparsely puberulent, especially along veins, oblong-elliptic to obovate, 6-10 × 3.2-6 cm, the base obtuse to rounded, the apex obtuse or rounded, with a short, obtuse apiculum, the margins subentire or obsolete dentate; tertiary veins clathrate. Thyrses axillary, racemiform, 7-14 cm long, with stout, tomentulose axes; cincinni sessile, few-flowered. Calyx abaxially ferruginous-pubescent, with 4 sepals, outer sepals ca. 1 mm long, inner sepals ca. 3 mm long. Capsule 3-winged, slightly woody, turning from green to orange-red, ferruginoustomentose, stipitate, the locule ellipsoid to pyriform, 1.7-2 cm long, the wings of similar size or one of them shorter, projecting beyond the apex of the locule, decurrent toward the stipe, 0.7-1 cm wide, crenate on margins, the endocarp glabrous. Seed solitary, ca. 1.2 cm long, ellipsoid, dark brown, with a sarcotesta on lower half.

Distribution

French Guiana present, Guyana present, Southern America: Venezuela (Venezuela present), Suriname present
Known from Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana (GU: 1; SU: 2; FG: 6).

Common Name

English (Suriname): bij kabo, toka

Wood

Woody vine .1
1. 001

Notes

Paullinia fibulata is vegetatively similar to P. tricornis, however, it is distinguished from the latter by pubescent or tomentose stems (vs. glabrous), abaxially puberulent leaflets (vs. glabrous, barbate at axils); calyx of 4 sepals (vs. 5 sepals), and ferruginous-tomentose capsules with wings projecting apically (vs. pubescent, wings projecting dorsally).