Centrosema virginianum (L.) Benth.

  • Authority

    Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.

  • Family

    Fabaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Centrosema virginianum (L.) Benth.

  • Description

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    Species Description - Twining woody vine to 2 m long; stems slender, wiry. Leaves trifoliolate; leaflets 2.5-6.5 x 1-4 cm, very variable in shape, lanceolate, ovate, or oblong, chartaceous, glabrous except for a few hairs along veins, the apex acute or seldom obtuse, mucronulate, the base broadly cuneate to rounded, the margins entire; rachis 0.7-1.5 cm long; petioles 2.3-2.8 cm long; stipules linear, straw-colored, persistent. Flowers solitary or paired, on elongate peduncles; bracts ovate, persistent. Calyx 10-15 mm long, greenish, puberulent, the sepals nearly equal; corolla lavender, the standard widely ovate, 3-4 cm wide, white at center, with magenta stripes, the wings and keel clawed, much shorter than the standard. Legume 10-13 x 0.3-0.4 cm, linear-oblong, ribbed along both margins, long-beaked at apex. Seeds numerous, ca. 2 mm long, bean-shaped, flattened, brown.

  • Discussion

    Common name: wist vine.

  • Distribution

    Common weed throughout the island. Fish Bay (A3896), trail to Solomon Bay (A2318). Also on all islands of the Virgin Islands; native throughout tropical and subtropical America.

    Virgin Islands South America|