Passiflora macfadyenii C.D.Adams, Bull. Inst. Jam., Sci. Ser., 16: 27. 1967.

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 : 83-84

5. Passiflora macfadyenii C.D.Adams, Bull. Inst. Jam., Sci. Ser., 16: 27. 1967. Figs 32 -33

Type.

Jamaica. St. Andrew: ca. 1.5 mi. SSE of Lucky Valley, 16 Dec 1956, G. Proctor 15884 (holotype: IJ!; isotypes: GH! [GH00065787],MO! [MO-312538]).

Description.

Slender, climbing, perennial vine 3 m long or more, densely pubescent with unicellular curved trichomes throughout, 0.2-0.7 mm long, 0.02-0.03 mm wide, also minutely antrorsely appressed-puberulent throughout with unicellular, curved trichomes, 0.08-0.10 mm long, 0.02 mm wide. Flowering stems 0.9-2.1 mm in diameter, somewhat compressed, base somewhat woody and cork-covered. Stipules 2.0-8.0 mm long, 0.3-1.1 mm wide, linear-narrowly ovate, acute to attenuate, longitudinally striate-nerved; petioles 0.4-1.5(-3.7) cm long, commonly bearing in the distal half (0.54-0.83 of the distance from the base toward the apex of the petiole) (1-)2, round or elliptic, opposite to alternate, sessile (rare) or stipitate, cupulate nectaries, 0.3-0.6 mm wide (on the widest axis), 0.3-1.0 mm high. Laminas 1.4-9.0 cm long, 1.6-6.4(-11.9) cm wide, deeply 3-lobed 0.21-0.93 of the distance to the leaf base, lateral lobes (0.8-)2.0-4.2(-7.3) cm long, (0.1-)0.6-1.8(-2.3) cm wide, oblong to obovate, acute to rounded (rarely emarginate), central lobes 1.4-5.2 (-9.0) cm long, (0.2-)0.5-3.0 cm wide, elliptic to obovate, acute to rounded (rarely emarginate), often narrowed at base, angle between the lateral lobes 79-134°, ratio of lateral to central lobe lengths 0.60-0.96, margins entire, primary veins 3, diverging and branching at base, laminar nectaries absent; tendril 0.3-0.7 mm wide, present at flowering node. Flowers borne in leaf axils. Pedicels 11.0-18.0(-23.0) mm long, 0.4-0.8 mm wide; bract(s) absent; spur(s) absent. Tubular flowers 5.5-8.1 mm in diameter with stipe 1.5-6.5 mm long, 0.4-0.9 mm wide; hypanthium 5.5-8.1 mm in diameter; sepals 19.3-26.1 mm long, basally connate 7.1-12.5 mm, 1.3-3.1 mm wide, linear to narrowly ovate, acute to rounded, abaxially and adaxially red (ca. 5R 6/10), free portions of sepals reflexed at anthesis; coronal filaments in 1 series, adnate to the calyx tube, 25-30, the free portions 2.0-5.7 mm long, 0.1-0.3 mm wide, linear to narrowly ovate, erect, appearing red with yellow apices when dried, ratio of coronal (portion not adnate to sepal) to sepal (free portion) 0.25-0.44; rarely a trace second coronal row of filaments may be present just outside the operculum; operculum 1.4-2.0 mm long, plicate, appearing red when dried, the margin with narrow minutely fimbrillate teeth; nectary 0.1-0.5 mm high, 0.7-2.5 mm wide, sulcate; limen slightly recurved to erect, 0.1-0.7 mm high, 0.1-0.5 mm wide, red when dried, limen floor 2.9-5.0 mm in diameter, red when dried; androgynophore 17.8-23.5 mm long, 0.8-1.1 mm wide, red when dried gradually getting lighter distally or with the red coloration nearly reaching the apices of the staminal filaments; free portions of the staminal filaments 5.4-8.0 mm long, 0.3-0.6 mm wide, linear, greenish yellow or red; anthers 2.8-3.5 mm long, 0.7-2.0 mm wide; styles 4.2-5.5 mm long including stigmas, 0.1-0.3 mm wide, greenish yellow; stigmas 0.73-1.33 mm in diameter; ovary 3.6-8.0 mm long, 1.0-2.7 mm wide, fusiform, greenish yellow. Berry 25.0-26.0 mm long, 5.9-9.0 mm in diameter, ellipsoid and tapering at both ends (fusiform), very dark purple. Seeds ca. 20, 3.1-3.7 mm long, 1.6-1.8 mm wide, 1.2-1.3 mm thick, obovate in outline, acute at both ends, reticulate-foveate with each face marked with 15-17 foveae.

Phenology.

Flowering and fruiting from December to February, sometimes flowering in June.

Distribution.

Endemic to Jamaica, in the parishes of St. Andrew and St. Thomas. Tropical dry forests in roadside thickets and wooded limestone hills near Lucky Valley (St. Andrew) and Cambridge Hill (St. Thomas); growing on shrubs, small trees, limestone boulders and rocks on very limited to moderately developed soils; ca. 200-310 m.

Discussion.

As mentioned under Passiflora lancifolia , Passiflora macfadyenii is somewhat similar to that taxon but differs from it in characters of the leaf, flower, and fruit. Both species are quite distinct and can be easily separated in the field and herbarium. It is interesting that the leaf shape of Passiflora macfadyenii is very similar to that of Passiflora juliana and Passiflora viridiflora . Killip (1938), under his description of Passiflora lancifolia , also noticed their vegetative similarities.

Passiflora macfadyenii is very restricted in its distribution and has only been collected in the vicinity of Lucky Valley in the dry tropical forests of the Port Royal Mountains, St. Andrew, Jamaica. I visited this area in June of 2000, but the region was experiencing a severe drought and four days of searching for the plant revealed neither vegetative nor reproductive material. Elma Kay (St. Louis University and Missouri Botanical Garden) and George Proctor (University of the West Indies and the Institute of Jamaica) have also made several trips to the area and have not been able to find Passiflora macfadyenii . It was last collected in 1979 (Thomas 2032, 2034) and was listed as a rare plant in the 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants. It is my opinion that its status should be upgraded to extinct/endangered. It is fortunate that MacDougal obtained cuttings of Passiflora macfadyenii from Thomas (MacDougal 452, Thomas 2032) and grew the plant in the greenhouses at Duke University from 1979-1982; it is no longer in cultivation. Thanks to their efforts we have a better understanding of the biology of this very rare taxon.

In an unpublished manuscript, MacDougal determined the total sugar concentration measured as sucrose equivalents in percent weight per total weight to be 29-44% in Passiflora macfadyenii . He also found the flower to have no odor. The flower shape and morphology, combined with these data, indicate that Passiflora macfadyenii is (or was) likely utilized by hummingbirds.

Passiflora macfadyenii was described by Adams as a new species in 1967, and he discussed the differences between it and Passiflora lancifolia and some of the taxonomic confusion associated with these species. As mentioned under Passiflora lancifolia , Macfadyen described the plant now known as Passiflora macfadyenii as Passiflora regalis in his Flora of Jamaica in 1850. Shortly afterwards, Grisebach (1860) and Ramírez Goyena (1909) incorrectly applied the name Passiflora regalis to another similar but distinct taxon, Passiflora lancifolia . Fawcett and Rendle, in 1926, did attempt to rectify this situation and published a description of Macfadyen’s true Passiflora regalis , which they attributed to him. However, Passiflora regalis Macf. ex Fawc. & Rend. is an illegitimate name because it is a later homonym of Passiflora regalis Macf. ex Griseb and Passiflora regalis Macf. ex Ramírez Goyena. Therefore, Adams gave Macfadyen’s true Passiflora regalis a new name, Passiflora macfadyenii , and designated a new type specimen.

Specimens examined.

JAMAICA. St. Andrew: Newstead, 500 ft., Adams 8976 (UCWI);1.5 mi. SSW of Lucky Valley, along road between Bull Bay & Cane River Falls, 700 ft. Proctor 16172 (BM); 1.5 mi. SSE of Lucky Valley, 700 ft. Proctor 24913 (BM, US); 2 mi. N of Bullbay on road to Cane River Falls, Thomas 2032 (DUKE). St. Thomas: Cambridge Hill, 1000 ft., Adams 10232 (BM, DUKE, UCWI). Parish Unknown: Plato Road, Harris s.n., 5 October 1897 (UCWI).

CULTIVATED MATERIAL. United States of America: North Carolina, Durham, Duke University, cultivated from material collected by Thomas (2032), MacDougal 452 (FLAS).