1.
Pisonia aculeata
Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 1026. 1753.
Devil's-claw, cockspur, pull-and-hold-back, old-hook, garabato prieto
Vines or shrubs,
to 3 m; vines subscandent, woody; branches spreading at right angles, armed with stout, recurved spines 6-20 mm.
Stems
velvety when young, glabrate later.
Leaf blades
ovate to obovate, 2-10 × 2-7 cm, base cuneate, apex subacute, glabrate.
Inflorescences:
staminate inflorescences subglobose, dense, 1-3 cm diam.; pistillate inflorescences subglobose at anthesis, more open in age; branches divaricate or ascending; fruiting pedicel 0.5-2 cm.
Perianths:
perianth of staminate flowers yellowish green, broadly campanulate, 2-3 mm, densely and shortly viscid-villous; perianth of pistillate flowers greenish, often blushed with red, 2-3 mm, puberulent.
Fruits
clavate, 7-10 × 3-4 mm, densely puberulent between glandular ribs, glands extending entire length of fruits.
Flowering throughout spring. Hammocks, moist thickets; 0-100[-1000] m; Fla., Tex.; Mexico; West Indies; Central America; South America; Asia; Africa; Pacific Islands, Australia.
Pisonia aculeata
is nearly pantropical, found throughout the New World tropics and is considered introduced in Africa, Asia, and the Phillipines, but in the flora area it reaches only to the lower Rio Grande valley and southern Florida. It is closely allied with the less widely distributed
Pisonia capitata
, and there appears to be no distinction between pistillate plants of the two species. A. L. Bogle (1974) discussed the possible presence of
Pisonia aculeata
var.
macranthocarpa
in the flora.
