General Information |
Distribution | Native to the Antilles, now a pantropical weed.In the Hawaiian Islands,
naturalized on
Kaua`i, O`ahu, Maui, Hawai`i.
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Habit
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Spreading or sprawling shrubs 2-3 m tall, prickles 3-7 mm long, slightly hooked, laterally flattened, scattered on stems, both leaf surfaces, and main veins, sparse on aged and mature growth, all parts pubescent with stellate hairs, sparse on upper leaf surface, dense on lower surface, general aspect drab.
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Leaves
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Leaves simple, alternate, broadly ovate-elliptic, variable in size, 10-15 cm long, 8-10 cm wide, margins with broad lobes, deeply cut in juvenile phases, shallow in mature leaves, apex acute to obtuse, base somewhat sagittate to auriculate, equal or oblique, petioles 2-5 cm long.
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Flowers
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Lower flowers perfect, upper ones staminate, actinomorphic, numerous (50-100) in congested, branched corymbs, at first terminal, soon lateral by sympodial growth, peduncle to first fork 1-2 cm long, pedicels 5-10 mm long; calyx 3-4 mm long, the lobes apiculate, 2-3 mm long; corolla white, stellate, 2.5
cm in diameter, the lobes lanceolate, ca. 10 mm long, apex acute; stamens 5, inserted on corolla tube; filaments ca. 1 mm long; anthers yellow, attenuate, 6-7 mm long, opening by small apical pores; ovary globose, pubescent; style 1, erect, 8-10 mm long in perfect flowers, in staminate flowers.
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Fruit
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Berries few to 10 in clusters, drab yellow, brownish at maturity, mucilaginous, drying with age, globose, 1-1.5 cm in diameter, pedicels 1-1.5 cm long, thickened below calyx, calyx not much enlarged.
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Seeds
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Seeds numerous, drab brownish, flattened, discoid, 1.5-2 mm long, slightly reticulate.
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Chromosomes
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2n = 24, 48
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Notes
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Self-compatible
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