Mansoa alliacea (Lam.) A.H.Gentry

  • Authority

    Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro. 2005. Vines and climbing plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 51: 1-483.

  • Family

    Bignoniaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Mansoa alliacea (Lam.) A.H.Gentry

  • Description

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    Description - Woody vine, which climbs by tendrils and attains 10-15 m in length. Young stems quadrangular, with the angles ribbed; mature stems cylindrical or subcylindrical, lenticellate; cross section with a cross of 4 arms, formed by the phloem tissue; nodes slightly compressed with a glandular interpetiolar zone; pseudostipules ovate, ca. 5 mm long. Leaves opposite, 2-foliolate, sometimes with a terminal tendril, trifid, deciduous, 20-25 cm long; leaflets 9-30 x 4.5-18 cm. elliptical or broadly elliptical, chartaceous, the apex obtuse or obtusely acuminate, the base acute, rounded, or obtuse and sometimes unequal, the margins undulate or crenate; upper surface dull, glabrous, with the venation slightly prominent; lower surface light green, dull, minutely lepidote, with the venation slightly prominent, the axils of the secondary veins with a group of minute punctiform glands; petioles and petiolules glabrous, the petioles 7-30 mm long, the petiolules with two keels formed by the decurrent base of the blade. 7-30 mm long. Flowers few, in axillary racemes; pedicels 7-15 mm long. Calyx green, campanulate or broadly campanulate, simple, puberulous, 5-8 mm long, truncate, slightly crenate at the apex; corolla violet-pink or lavender, infundibuliform, 7.5-9 cm long, the limb 4-5 cm in diameter, with five rounded lobes; stamens inserted; ovary cylindrical, lepidote. Capsule oblong, woody, light brown, 30-35 x 2.5- 3 cm, swollen, with a longitudinal rib on the middle portion of each of the valves; seeds asymmetrically ovate, compressed, thick, woody, 1.5-2 cm long.

    Phenology - Collected in flower from October to May and in fruit in October.

    Conservation Status - Exotic, cultivated in Puerto Rico.

  • Common Names

    bejuco de ajo, mata de ajo