Rivina humilis

Bloodberry ( Rivina humilis ) with fruits

The Blood Berry ( Rivina humilis ), or coral berry called, is the only species of the genus Rivina from the family of Pokeweed ( Phytolaccaceae ). She comes from southern North America to present in the tropical South America.

• 5.1 Notes and references

Description

Vegetative characteristics

The blood berry grows as a deciduous, perennial, herbaceous plant to semi- shrub, reaching heights of growth between 0.4 and 2 meters. Depending on location, the vegetative plant parts are more or less hairy or bald intensely fluffy. The self upright or klimmende, ribbed stems can become woody at its base.

The alternate arranged leaves are divided into petiole and leaf blade. The petiole is 1-11 inches long. The lance-shaped, elliptical or oblong has a length of 2.5 to 15 centimeters and a width of 1.5 to 9 cm to delta-shaped or ovate leaf blade a wedge-shaped, rounded, truncated, or heart-shaped base.

Generative features

The blood berry can bloom throughout the year. The terminal or pendent on a 1-5 cm long inflorescence stem is a racemose inflorescence, the lengths of 4 to 15 centimeters reached and contains five to fifty flowers. The flower stalk extends from 2 millimeters during anthesis up to 8 mm in fruit ripening.

The hermaphrodite flowers are radial symmetry and cruciform with a simple perianth. The four switch with a length of 1.5 to 3.5 millimeters elliptical, oblong, lanceolate or wrong - wrong - egg-shaped bloom color from green to white in bud and pink during anthesis. The four stamens have a length of 1 to 2 millimeters. The only carpel often ends in a curved style with a capitate stigma.

There are single-seeded, with a diameter of 2.5 to 5 millimeters nearly spherical berries that turn red when ripe to orange or yellow. The 2 to 3 millimeters long, lens-shaped seeds are encased in thin, intense fluffy hairy skins.

The set of chromosomes is 2n = 108

Dissemination

Naturally, it occurs in the southern United States, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. As a neophyte, it is now widespread pantropical.

System

Rivina humilis is the only species of the genus in the subfamily Rivina Rivinioideae within the family Phytolaccaceae. The first publication of Rivina humilis was made in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus in Species Plantarum, 1, p.121 The genus name honors Rivina August Quirinus Rivinus. Synonyms for Rivina humilis L. are: Rivina laevis L. and Rivina portulaccoides Nuttall.

Use

From the fruit of the blood berry a red dye was obtained.

In the subtropical climate it is planted as salt- tolerant ground cover near the coast. It can be used as an ornamental plant for semi-shaded locations.

Swell

• Mark A. Nienaber & John W. Thieret: Phytolaccaceae in the Flora of North America, Volume 4, 2003, pp. 9-10: The genus and species - Online. (Section Description and systematics)
• Thomas B. Croat: Flora of Barro Colorado Iceland, University Press, Stanford, 1978, ISBN 0-8047-0950-5.