Araujia odorata

Stems to 15 m. Leaves: petiole 0.5–4 cm, eglandular-pubescent; blade ovate, deltate, or hastate, 1.8–8 × 0.8–6 cm, base truncate to cordate, surfaces glabrous to eglandular-pubescent. Inflorescences: peduncle 0.1–0.7 cm, eglandular-pubescent. Pedicels 0.6–1.5 cm, eglandular-pubescent. Flowers: sepals green, lanceolate to oblong, not leaflike, 5–13 × 1–3 mm, surfaces eglandular-pubescent; calycine colleters present; corolla pale to waxy green, rotate, lobes 7–13 × 2–4 mm, abaxial surface eglandular-pubescent, adaxial surface glabrous; gynostegial corona a fused tube, 5–8 mm, obscuring gynostegium, glabrous; style-head extension absent. Follicles 8–12 × 2–7 cm, glabrous. Seeds brownish black to black, 5–6 × 1.5–2 mm; coma 2–5 cm. 2n = 22.

Phenology: Flowering summer–fall; fruiting fall–winter.
Habitat: Citrus groves, roadsides, waste places, dunes, beaches.
Elevation: 0–100 m.

Introduced; Fla., South America, introduced also in Central America.

Discussion

Native to central South America, Araujia odorata was introduced to the United States as an ornamental in the 1930s and first observed in a citrus grove in Florida in 1957 (D. P. H. Tucker and R. L. Phillips 1974; D. L. Spellman and C. R. Gunn 1976).

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa