Flora of Dominica, Part 2 - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

NUMBER 77 ASCIEPJADACEAE-ASTERACEAE 29
This questionable record is included because I remember
seeing it growing as a weed along the highway north of Roseau.
It is possible that the other species, C. gigantea, occurs,
although I have seen only one specimen from the West Indies
(Barbados). It has ovoid buds, reflexed coronal basal spurs, and
the leaves are usually >2x longer than broad.
Gonolobus R. Brown
Gonolobus martinicensis
Gonolobus martinicensis Decaisne in A.P. Candolle, 1844,8:595.--Schlechter
in Urban, 1899,1:285.
Gonolobur scandens Urban, 1919c:151, nom. illeg.
Vine with palmately veined leaves, blade to 10 cm x 4 cm, f
cordate; flowers f racemose, peduncle longer than petioles;
corolla lobes glabrous, green.
St. Vincent, Guadeloupe and Martinique; common in
Dominica in disturbed areas at middle elevations: En Haut Jean
(Webster 13505), Grande Baie (Eggers s.n.), Laudat (Eggers
IIOO), sine loc. (Ramage s.n., Mar. 1882).
Urban (1919c:151) considered he was making a new
combination based on “Periploca scandens” Aublet (1775,
2(Tabl. Nom. Lat.):23). Study of this and its reference to page
273 satisfies me that this is not a validly published binomial
with an epithet (what Linnaeus and Aublet called a ‘‘nomen
triviale”) but a one-word abbreviation of the “nomen specificum
legitimum” (what we loosely call a polynomial) of cited
Periploca [Americana] scandens, foliis convolvu1i;fructu alato
Plumier ex Tournefort (1700:93; Plumier, 1703, Cat. 2).
Gonolobus scandens Urban is a superfluous renaming of G.
martinicensis Decaisne, cited in Urban’s synonymy.
Marsdenia R. Brown
Marsdenia dussii
Marsdenia dussii Schlechter in Urban, 1899, 1:275.-Rothe, 1915:425.
Vine with pinnately veined leaves; blades to 13 cm x 6 cm;
inflorescence cymose with small, white flowers; corolla 0.4 cm
long; stamina1 scales only equaling the anthers, not divided.
Rare; previously known only from a single Martinique
collection; in rainforest of Dominica -570 m: near Pont Casse
(Ernst 1810).
Matelea Aublet
Matelea maritima
Matelea maritima (Jacquin) Woodson, 1941922.
Asclepias maritima Jacquin, 1760:17.
Cynanchum marithum (Jacquin) Jacquin, 176333, pl. 56.
lbatia maritima (Jacquin) Decaisne in A.P. Candolle, 1844,8:599.
Ibatia mwicata Grisebach, 1862421.
Pubescent climber with deeply cordate, palmately veined
leaves; inflorescence f sessile, flowers greenish, small; fruit
muricate.
Hispaniola through northern South America; in dry areas of
Dominica: Grand Savanne (Ernst 1889,2126).
Metastelma R. Brown
Metastelma parv(florum
Metastelma parviponun (Swartz) R. Brown ex Schultes in Roemer & Schultes,
1820,6:120.--Schlechter in Urban, 1899,1:246.
Cynanchum pawiflorum Swartz, 1788:53.-Liogier, 1%3:191 .-Whitefoord,
1989: 147.
Melastelma suberosum Grisebsch, 1862:417.
Small climber with apiculate, opposite or whorled, pinnately
veined leaves; flowers umbellate, very small, whitish; gynostegium
long-stipitate.
Puerto Rico through northern South America; in drier places
of Dominica: Portsmouth (Whitefoord 5298), sine loc. (Zmay
17 at K).
ASTERACEAE/COMPOSITAE
It is vital to understand the composite nature of what appears
to be a “flower” in Asteraceae. In a typical radiate head
(“flower”) what looks like a calyx (sepals) is an involucre
(bracts), what looks like petals (corolla) are ligulate ray-florets,
and what looks like the center of the “flower” is composed of
tubular disk-florets. Each of the supposed petals or central
organs is a floret.
Herbs or shrubs; leaves opposite or alternate, sometimes
radical, simple to compound; venation pinnate or 3-veined
(with at least 3 major veins arising at or near leaf blade base);
stipules absent; typical inflorescence a head (capitulum)
enclosed in 1-more series of involucral bracts (phyllaries) with
flowers (florets) on a common receptacle, floral bracts on
receptacle reduced to bristles or scales (pales) or absent; florets
gamopetalous with three corolla types: (1) tubular (disk-floret),
with elongate tube and spreading teeth, (2) ligulate (ray-floret),
with short tube and elongate, strap-shaped limb with 0-5 teeth
or, rarely, (3) bilabiate, with elongate tube, a 3-lobed upper and
2-lobed lower lip; heads of three basic types: (1) discoid, with
all florets tubular, (2) radiate, with outer florets ligulate and
inner florets tubular, or (3) ligulate, with all florets ligulate;
heads also characterized by floret sex, e.g., homogamous, with
all florets same sex (bisexual, pistillate, or staminate) or
heterogamous, with some florets sexually different from others;
calyx (pappus) none or superior, of capillary bristles (hairs) or
scales (pales); corolla superior, of types described above as
florets; stamens 5, epipetalous, alternate with petals, with
anthers basifixed and connate (syngenesious), simple or tailed
at base; pistil 1, inferior, unilocular with 1 basal ovule; style
2-branched (unbranched in neuter florets); fruit an achene,
crowned by pappus (capillary bristles or pales), if any.