Merremia dissecta (Jacq.) Hallier f.

  • 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

    Convolvulaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Merremia dissecta (Jacq.) Hallier f.

  • Description

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    Description - Slightly woody vine, twining, much branched, 2-5 m in length, with scarce milky or watery latex. Stems cylindrical, slender, striate, hirsute when young, glabrous when mature. Leaves alternate; blades simple, 4-7 x 1.2-3 cm, 7-9-palmatilobed, divided almost to the base, chartaceous, glabrous, the lobes sinuate to sinuate-dentate, lanceolate or elliptical in outline, acuminate and mucronate toward the apex, the lower lobes sometimes again lobate; petioles slender, pilose or glabrous, 2.5-4 cm long. Flowers solitary or occasionally in cymes; peduncles as long as the petioles; bracts deciduous. Calyx green, the sepals unequal, 2-2.2 cm long, lanceolate to rounded, glabrous, hyaline; corolla white, with the center reddish, infundibuliform, 3-4 cm long, the tube light yellow, the limb pentagonal, 3.5-4 cm in diameter; stamens and stigmas yellow, not exserted. Capsules depressed-globose, 1-1.5 cm wide, opening by 4 hyaline valves, brown, glabrous, with accrescent sepals, ca. 3 cm long, persistent; seeds obtusely and asymmetrically pyramidal, 5-7 mm long, dull black, glabrous.

    Phenology - Flowering throughout the year and fruiting from August to December.

    Conservation Status - Native, common.