Helicteres jamaicensis Jacq.

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Malvaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Helicteres jamaicensis Jacq.

  • Description

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    Species Description - Shrub 1.5-2.5 m tall, branching pseudodichotomous, often much-branched from near the base; twigs slender, often drooping, densely stellate-tomentose. Leaf blades 8-25 x 6.5-15 cm, broadly ovate to ovate-lanceolate or ovate-oblong, chartaceous to subcoriaceous, densely stellate-tomentose, paler green below, the apex shortly acute to acuminate, the base oblique, cordate to sagittate, the margins doubly serrate; petioles 1-2 cm long, densely stellate-tomentose; stipules to 1.5 cm long, linear, densely stellatetomentose. Flowers solitary or few in leaf-opposed cymes; bracteoles filiform; peduncles 2-3 cm long, stellate-tomentose; pedicels shortly stellate-tomentose. Calyx 1.5-2.5 cm long, unequally 5- toothed, somewhat 2-lipped, densely stellate-tomentose; petals white to yellowish, 2.5-3 cm long, unequal; androgynophore 6- 10 cm long, slightly curved; stamens 10, the filaments ca. 2 mm long; staminodes 5, spatulate, as long as the filaments; ovary ca. 10-carpellate, densely tomentose. Capsule (2.5-)3.5-5.5 x 1.5- 2 cm, conelike, oblong, and spirally twisted, turning from yellowish green to brown in age, dehiscent, densely stellate-tomentose, borne on an androgynophore 6-10 cm long. Seed numerous, 2.2- 2.8 x 1.2-1.5 mm , ovoid, brown, warty.

    Distribution and Ecology - A common shrub of coastal thickets and woodlands. Nanny Point (A2457). Also on St. Croix, St. Thomas, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda; endemic to the West Indies from the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and Grand Cayman Island east to St. Martin

  • Discussion

    Common names: cats balls, cow bush.