Spirotecoma spiralis (C.Wright ex Griseb.) Pichon
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Authority
Gentry, Alwyn H. 1992. Bignoniaceae--part II (Tribe Tecomeae). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 25: 1-370. (Published by NYBG Press)
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Family
Bignoniaceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
Type. Cuba. Oriente: Río Toro, Wright 3038 (holotype, GOET; isotypes, G, K, MO, NY).
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Synonyms
Tecoma spiralis C.Wright ex Griseb., Cotema spiralis (C.Wright) Britton & P.Wilson, Neurotecoma calcicola Urb., Spirotecoma guantanamensis Bisse
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Description
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Species Description - Shrub or small tree mostly 2-3(-4) m tall, the branchlets terete, more or less lepidote, otherwise glabrous, when young sometimes with tannish corky lenticels, the cortex of older branchlets tending to split and peel. Leaves l-3(-5)-foliolate, the leaflets ovate to oblong ovate, the apex rounded to acute, occasionally shallowly emarginate, rounded to broadly cordate at base, the terminal (or only) leaflet 2-10 cm long, 1.5-8 cm wide, the basals (when present) to 6.5 by 3.5 cm, coriaceous, lepidote above and below, otherwise glabrous except for usually conspicuous tufts of simple trichomes forming axillary domatia in the secondary nerve axils below, the secondary veins prominent below, prominulous above, the tertiary venation intricately prominulous above and sometimes below, drying shiny dark olive to black above, lighter olive to blackish below, often with contrastingly whitish axillary domatia, and lighter main veins, the margin entire to erose or conspicuously serrate; terminal petiolule to 2 cm long, lateral petiolules, when present, < 1 cm long, petiole 0.4-5 cm long, lepidote. Inflorescence a single flower or usually a pair of flowers borne in the leaf axils or ramiflorously in the axils of fallen leaves, the pedicel (4-)5-8 cm long, drying black, inconspicuously lepidote, otherwise glabrous. Flowers with the calyx coriaceous, tubular-campanulate, irregularly 2-4-labiate, the lobes more or less obtuse, 10-15 mm long, 7-9 mm wide, lepidote, drying black; corolla greenish-purple to yellowish-brown, tubular-infundibuliform, gradually tapering to the narrower base of tube, slightly curved, with a small bulge in throat, strongly bilabiate, apparently with the two upper lobes held more or less straight and the lower ones more or less reflexed (but perhaps held inverted below branch?), 5-7 cm long, 1.5-2 cm wide at mouth of tube, the tube 3-5 cm long, the rather broad and irregularly fringed lobes 0.5-1 cm long, glabrous outside except for a very few inconspicuous lepidote scales, completely glabrous inside even at stamen insertion, the lobes usually more or less ciliate and sometimes with flexuous trichomes on inner surface; stamens subequal to distinctly didynamous, strongly exserted (by as much as 2 cm), the thecae pendulous, parallel, 5-7 mm long; ovary oblong, 4-5 mm long, ca. 1 mm wide, the surface strongly blackish-lepidote, glandular; disk annular-pulvinate, 1-2 mm long, 2-3 mm wide. Fruit a linear capsule, strongly curved or spirally twisted, 10-30 cm long, 4-6 mm wide, only rarely subtended by the usually caducous calyx, slightly and inconspicuously lepidote, otherwise glabrous, the valves coriaceous, longitudinally finely striate, drying black when young, tan after dehiscence, the septum thickened, longitudinally bisected by a medial furrow, each side interrupted by a series of shallow pits into which the seed bodies are appressed, fragmenting transversely at dehiscence; seeds thin, bialate, 1-2 mm long, 5-10 mm wide, the hyaline-membranaceous wings sharply demarcated from the tiny seed body.
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Discussion
To judge from the corolla shape and reported yellowish-brown to greenish-purple color, this species may be bat-pollinated; if so it would be the only non-bird-pollinated species of the genus. This species is also distinctive in the mostly simple leaves.
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Common Names
roble yanilla
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Objects
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Distribution
South coast of Cuba in xeric vegetation on limestone cliffs and hills near the coast.
Cuba South America| Guantánamo Cuba South America| Santiago de Cuba Cuba South America|