Guilandina major
Fl. S.E. U.S., 591, 1331. 1903.
Vines, climbing, to 15 m. Stems: branchlets glossy to dull, hairy or glabrous; prickles straight or recurved, 0.5–3 mm on a small, orbicular base, sometimes with recurved prickles on an ellipsoid base. Leaves to 75 cm; stipules caducous or absent, subulate or linear, 1–3 mm, apex acute; rachis 30–45 cm, armed with recurved prickles at base of pinnae and scattered in between; pinnae 3–8 pairs, 7–35 cm; leaflets 6–14 per pinna, opposite or alternate, blade ovate to oblong (subsymmetrical), (5–)6–7 × (2.7–)3.2 cm, membranous to subcoriaceous, base acute to rounded, oblique, margins curved, apex rounded to acute, mucronate, surfaces hairy or glabrous. Inflorescences supra-axillary, 10–50 cm; bracts ascending to spreading, subulate, 1–3 mm. Pedicels 6–12 mm. Flowers: sepals reflexed during anthesis, 7–9 × 2.5–3 mm, ± equal, petals not exceeding sepals; corolla yellow, 4–7 × 2–3 mm; banner claw reflexed, 3 × 1 mm, densely hairy; claws of other petals 7 × 2 mm, hairy adaxially, sometimes ciliate; filaments 6–7 mm in staminate flowers, 5 mm in pistillate flowers, hairy basally; anther 0.5–1 mm; pistil in pistillate flowers 2.5–7 mm; ovary 4–5 mm, hairy, densely set with long prickles; ovules 4; style 3 mm, hairy, stigma ciliate; pistil rudimentary in staminate flowers, 1 mm, hairy. Fruits 8–13 × 4–6 cm, faces densely set with prickles. Seeds 2–4, yellow (gray-green when immature), globose to subglobose, 15–25 mm diam., smooth, with parallel concentric lines.
Phenology: Flowering Nov–Mar.
Habitat: Vine thicket vegetation.
Elevation: 0–20 m.
Distribution
Fla., West Indies, South America (Guyana), Asia, Indian Ocean Islands (Madagascar), Pacific Islands, Australia.
Discussion
Guilandina major is known from Martin, Miami-Dade, Monroe, and Palm Beach counties.
Caesalpinia major (Medikus) Dandy & Exell (1938, not A. Braun, 1851) is an illegitimate name that pertains here.
Selected References
None.