Passiflora lancifolia Ham., Prod. Pl. Ind. Occ. [Hamilton] 48. 1825.

Porter-Utley, Kristen, 2014, A revision of Passiflora L. subgenus Decaloba (DC.) Rchb. supersection Cieca (Medik.) J. M. MacDougal & Feuillet (Passifloraceae), PhytoKeys 43, pp. 1-224 : 79-82

4. Passiflora lancifolia Ham., Prod. Pl. Ind. Occ. [Hamilton] 48. 1825. Figs 31 -32

Passiflora lanceolata Ham. ex G.Don, Gen. Hist. 3: 54. 1834, non Passiflora lanceolata Harms, 1894. Type: Based on Passiflora lancifolia Ham.

Decaloba lancifolia (Ham.) M.Roem., Fam. Nat. Syn. 2: 159. 1846. Type: Based on Passiflora lancifolia Ham.

Passiflora regalis Macfadyen ex Griseb., Fl. Brit. W. I. 292. 1860. Type: Jamaica. Saint Andrews: "Cold Spring Gap in S. Andrews, Port Royal", MacFadyen s.n. (holotype: K!).

Type.

“Antilles”, Anon. s.n. ex Herb. Desvaux (holotype: P [P00605787, photograph seen] [photographs DUKE!, GH!, P!]; isotype: P [P00605788, photograph seen]).

Description.

Slender, climbing, perennial vine 3 m long or more, densely pubescent with unicellular curved trichomes throughout (except ovary), 0.5-1.4 mm long, 0.02-0.06 mm wide, also sparsely, antrorsely appressed-puberulent with unicellular, curved trichomes on stems, leaves and stipules, 0.03-0.05 mm long, 0.02 mm wide. Flowering stems 0.7-2.2 mm in diameter, subterete to terete, with the base somewhat cork-covered. Stipules 4.1-8.5 mm long, 0.3-0.9 mm wide; petioles 0.7-1.9 cm long, narrowly ovate, acute to attenuate, longitudinally striate-nerved, eglandular (rare) or commonly bearing in the distal third (0.69-0.97 of the distance from the base toward the apex of the petiole) (1-)2, round or elliptic, opposite to alternate, long-stipitate, cupulate nectaries, 0.1-0.5 mm wide, 0.4-1.2 mm high. Laminas 3.5-8.5 cm long, 1.5-5.2 cm wide, unlobed to shallowly 3-lobed 0.05-0.72 of the distance to the leaf base, when present, lateral lobes 1.1-4.0 cm long, 0.5-3.0 cm wide, elliptic, acute to rounded, central lobes 3.5-8.5 cm long, 1.0-3.5 cm wide, ovate to elliptic, acute to attenuate, angle between the lateral lobes 53-115°, ratio of lateral to central lobe length 0.29-0.56, margins entire, primary veins 1(rare) or 3, diverging and branching at base, laminar nectaries absent; tendril 0.3-0.6 mm wide, present at flowering node. Flowers borne in leaf axils. Pedicels 24.0-55.0 mm long, 0.3-0.8 mm wide; bract(s) absent or with one, narrowly ovate, acute bract, 0.9-1.8 mm long, 0.1-0.3 mm wide, the bract 20.6-34.8 mm from base of pedicel; spur(s) absent. Tubular flowers 7.1-12.8 mm in diameter with stipe 2.9-7.4 mm long, 0.5-1.0 mm wide; hypanthium 7.1-12.8 mm in diameter; sepals 20.1-31.8 mm long, 3.4-6.9 mm wide, narrowly ovate, acute, abaxially and adaxially reddish purple (5RP 4/6-4/8) dried; coronal filaments in 1 (rare) or 2 series, the outer 26-30, basally connate 1.1-3.8 mm, the free portions 5.8-10.3 mm long, 0.3-0.8 mm wide, linear to narrowly ovate, erect, reddish purple, lighter distally, ratio of coronal (fused and free portions) to sepal length 0.28-0.49, the inner not well-developed with 2-4 filaments or well-developed (rare) with 30-31 filaments, free or basally connate (rare) 0.8-0.2 mm, the free portions 1.1-2.9 mm long, 0.1-0.2 mm wide, linear, sometime capitellate, erect, appearing reddish purple when dried, ratio of inner coronal row to outer coronal row length (fused and free portions) 0.11-0.41; operculum 1.7-2.9 mm long, plicate, appearing light reddish purple dried, the margin with narrow minutely fimbrillate teeth; nectary 0.09-0.13 mm high, 1.1-3.5 mm wide, sulcate; limen slightly recurved to erect, occasionally slightly inclined toward operculum, 0.2-1.1 mm high, 0.1-0.3 mm wide, appearing light reddish purple (5RP6/6) dried, limen floor 2.1-6.1 mm in diameter, appearing light reddish purple dried; androgynophore 17.8-22.3 mm long, 0.6-1.3 mm wide, reddish purple dried; free portions of the staminal filaments 3.3-8.0 mm long, 0.3-0.7 mm wide, linear, greenish yellow; anthers 1.8-4.0 mm long, 0.5-2.0 mm wide; styles 4.3-7.0 mm long including stigmas, 0.1-0.4 mm wide, greenish yellow; stigmas 0.4-1.1 mm in diameter; ovary 2.6-6.7 mm long, 1.2-3.8 mm wide, elliptic, greenish yellow. Berry 12.8-13.9 mm long, 11.0-14.4 mm in diameter, ovoid to obovoid, very dark purple. Seeds ca. (6-)14-23, 3.0-3.2 mm long, 1.8-1.9 mm wide, 1.3 mm thick, obovate in outline, acute at both ends, reticulate-foveate with each face marked with ca. 15-17 foveae.

Phenology.

Flowering and fruiting May to December.

Distribution.

Endemic to Jamaica, in the parishes of St. Andrew, St. Thomas, and Portland. Tropical lower montane mist forests on steep wooded hillsides and in thickets; growing on shrubs and trees; ca. 850-1220 m.

Discussion.

Passiflora lancifolia is very similar to another Jamaican endemic, Passiflora macfadyenii . They both possess bright red, elongated tubular flowers that are likely pollinated by hummingbirds. The two species can be easily separated utilizing both vegetative and reproductive characters. Passiflora lancifolia possesses shallowly trilobed leaves (rarely unlobed) with the lateral lobes commonly significantly less than half the length of the central lobe, and the central lobe is ovate and never narrowed at the base. Passiflora macfadyenii possesses distinctly trilobed leaves with the lateral lobes commonly more than half the length of the central lobe, and the central lobe is obovate with a distinctly narrowed base similar to that in Passiflora juliana and Passiflora viridiflora . The pedicels in Passiflora lancifolia are greater than 2.3 cm long, whereas those of Passiflora macfadyenii rarely exceed a length of 1.8 cm. The floral nectary of Passiflora lancifolia is the widest in the supersection, greatly exceeding that of Passiflora macfadyenii . The outer coronal filaments are connate and often not adnate to the sepals or barely so in Passiflora lancifolia , whereas those of Passiflora macfadyenii are distinctly adnate to the sepals. Passiflora lancifolia often has two rows of coronal filaments (rarely with one row or a poorly developed inner row) and Passiflora macfadyenii lacks an inner coronal row (or with a poorly developed second coronal row seen in one flower from a plant in cultivation, i.e., MacDougal 452 - cultivated from cuttings of Thomas 2032). The fruits of Passiflora lancifolia and Passiflora macfadyenii are distinct, with Passiflora lancifolia having globose fruits and Passiflora macfadyenii possessing fusiform fruits. The habitats of the species are also different with Passiflora lancifolia growing in tropical lower montane mist forests at 850-1220 m and Passiflora macfadyenii found in tropical dry forests at 200-310 m.

The name Passiflora lancifolia was originally published by Hamilton as " Passiflora lancifolia Herb. Prof. Desv.," and the species has often been cited as " Passiflora lancifolia Desv. in Ham." or " Passiflora lancifolia Desv. ex Ham." However, in the preface of his book, it appears that Hamilton himself took responsibility for the new species and genera described therein and only acknowledged the advice and assistance of Desvaux (see MacDougal and McVaugh 2001 for further details). Soon afterwards, Don (1834) described the taxon Passiflora lanceolata . However, Don’s description of Passiflora lanceolata is identical to that of Passiflora lancifolia in Hamilton and is based upon the same type material, therefore, the name Passiflora lanceolata G.Don is a nomenclatural synonym of Passiflora lancifolia Ham. In 1850, Macfadyen wrote his second volume of Flora of Jamaica and included in it the description of a different plant, which he called Passiflora regalis , now known as Passiflora macfadyenii C. D. Adams. However, Macfadyen unexpectedly passed away before the publication of his flora, though it was distributed. As a result, several authors viewed the new species that were described by Macfadyen as ineffectively published and began to publish new species based upon his work. Grisebach (1860) was one of these authors and published a description of Passiflora regalis , which he attributed to Macfadyen. However, the species that he described was Passiflora lancifolia and not Macfadyen’s Passiflora regalis . In addition, Ramírez Goyena (1909) published a description of Passiflora regalis , which he attributed to Macfadyen, but the species that he described was also Passiflora lancifolia and a later homonym of Passiflora regalis Macf. ex Griseb. Incidentally, Ramírez Goyena’s description of Passiflora regalis , other than being in Spanish and not in English, is virtually identical to that of Grisebach.

Killip (1938) placed Passiflora lancifolia together with Passiflora viridiflora in the subgenus Chloropathanthus . However, the discovery of Passiflora juliana , a species that very closely resembles Passiflora viridiflora but is clearly a member of supersection Cieca , reinforced MacDougal’s hypothesis ( 1983) that the apetalous, tubular-flowered species (including Passiflora lancifolia ) belong in supersection Cieca ( MacDougal 1983, 1992).

Benson et al. (1975), in a study of the coevolution of plants and herbivores, reported that Dryas julia is an herbivore of Passiflora lancifolia .

Specimens examined.

JAMAICA. Portland: Silver Hill Woodcutter’s Gap, 3500 ft., Adams 11, 936 (UCWI); Silver Hill, 3500 ft., Harris 6536 (BM, UCWI); Silver Hill, Blue Mountains, 3000 ft., Philipson 971 (BM); Buff Bay road west of Section, Porter-Utley & Paul P-51 (FLAS); along the Buff Bay Road 0.5 mi. due W of Section, 3100 ft., Proctor 22948 (GH, US). St. Andrew: Newcastle Rd., 2800 ft., Adams 5723 (BM, UCWI); Newcastle to Hardwar Gap, 3700 ft., Adams 8152 (BM); track Chestervale-Clydesdale, Burrowes 13017 (UCWI); between Newcastle & Greenwich, Hart 1440 (BM); along track between Bellevue & Mt. Rosanna, Port Royal Mts., 3800-4000 ft., Proctor 23573 (GH); along road between Chestervale & Clydesdale, 3200-3400 ft., Proctor 23725 (GH); road from Newcastle to Freewich, RDR 1440 (UCWI); Fern Walk, Catherine’s Peak, 4000 ft., Skelding 6788 (UCWI). St. Thomas: Farm Hill, Orcutt 3437 (UC, US); Arntully, Orcutt 3841 (UC, US); along track between Farm Hill and Whitfield Hall, 4000 ft., Proctor 9659 (US); along the Stony Valley River near Arntully, 3000 ft., Proctor 33513 (DUKE).