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wild lime

Vasey's wild lime

Habit Shrubs [trees], unarmed or branchlets sometimes stiff and thorn-tipped, dioecious [monoecious], hairs unbranched; latex absent. Shrubs, 1–2(–3) m; bark gray to brown, branches usually ascending.
Leaves

deciduous, fascicled on short shoots [alternate], simple;

stipules present, deciduous;

petiole present, glands absent;

blade unlobed, margins entire [crenate], laminar glands absent;

venation palmate at base and pinnate distally [pinnate].

petiole 0.2 cm;

blade pale green, spatulate to obovate, 2–3(–4) × 0.5–1 cm, base cuneate, apex usually rounded, rarely emarginate, surfaces glabrous; 3-veined at base, secondary veins 4–7 pairs.

Inflorescences

unisexual [bisexual], axillary, fascicles [racemes] or flowers solitary;

bracts subtending pistillate flowers minute, not enlarging in fruit;

glands subtending each bract 0.

1–3-flowered.

Pedicels

present.

staminate 2 mm, pistillate 3–5 mm in flower to 20 mm in fruit.

Staminate flowers

sepals [4–]5, not petaloid, 2[–5] mm, valvate, distinct;

petals 0;

nectary extrastaminal, annular [5 glands], adnate to calyx;

stamens [6–-]14–17[–30], connate basally [distinct];

pistillode present [absent].

greenish white;

sepals lanceolate, acute, 2 mm, hairy;

stamens whitish;

filaments 1.5 mm;

pistillode 3-parted.

Pistillate flowers

sepals 5(–6)[–7], distinct;

petals 0;

nectary annular;

pistil (2–)3(–4)–carpellate;

styles (2–)3(–4), distinct [connate basally], deeply multifid.

yellowish green;

sepals reflexed at anthesis, ovate to lanceolate, acute, 2–-3 mm, puberulent;

ovary 1.5–2.5 mm diam.;

styles 2 mm.

Fruits

capsules.

Capsules

subglobose, 1–-1.3 cm diam., hairy.

Seeds

subglobose;

caruncle absent.

4–-5 mm.

Adelia

Adelia vaseyi

Phenology Flowering Jan–Jun, fruiting Jun.
Habitat Subtropical semideciduous woodlands on loamy soils, occasionally shrublands on sandy to gravelly soils.
Elevation 10–100 m. (0–300 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
TX; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies; tropical and subtropical regions
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
TX; Subtropical semideciduous woodlands on loamy soils; occasionally shrublands on sandy to gravelly soils; Mexico (Tamaulipas)
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Species 9 (1 in the flora).

Phylogenetic analyses of morphological and molecular data support Adelia as a monophyletic group sister to the Caribbean genera Lasiocroton Grisebach and Leucocroton Grisebach (De-Nova and V. Sosa 2007). Three principal lineages were recognized in Adelia: the first includes only A. cinerea (Wiggins & Rollins) A. Cervantes, V. W. Steinmann & Flores Olvera, a species endemic to Mexico; the second includes four Mexican species (including A. vaseyi); and the third comprises the remaining four species from the West Indies, Central America, and South America.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

In the flora area, Adelia vaseyi is restricted to the lower Rio Grande Valley (Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr, and Willacy counties), where much of its habitat has been destroyed.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 12, p. 181. Author: J. Arturo De-Nova. FNA vol. 12, p. 181.
Parent taxa Euphorbiaceae Euphorbiaceae > Adelia
Subordinate taxa
A. vaseyi
Synonyms Euphorbia vaseyi
Name authority Linnaeus: Syst. Nat. ed. 10, 2: 1285, 1298. (1759) — name conserved (J. M. Coulter) Pax & K. Hoffmann: in H. G. A. Engler, Pflanzenr. 63[IV,147]: 69. (1914)
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