Strongylodon macrobotrys

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Strongylodon macrobotrys, commonly known as jade vine, emerald vine or turquoise jade vine, is a leguminous vine endemic to the Philippines. It is a popular ornamental plant known for its cascading clusters of vibrant turquoise or greenish-blue claw-shaped flowers. Cultivating jade vine requires a tropical environment, making it a popular choice in botanical gardens and conservatories. The plant's striking appearance and limited distribution contribute to its allure among plant enthusiasts worldwide.

Origins

Strongylodon macrobotrys was first described by western explorers in 1841. The plant was noted on the jungled slopes of Mount Makiling, on the Philippines’ Luzon Island, by members of the United States Exploring Expedition. The plant received its Western name and was first described in Western literature by Harvard-based botanist Asa Gray. He described thousands of plants collected by the United States multi-ship expedition. Plants were collected from various countries including Honolulu and Antarctica. Gray had disagreed with Lt. Charles Wilkes, the U.S. Navy officer who had led the expedition, and elected not to join the voyage itself. The expedition involved several violent altercations with indigenous populations. Wilkes was court-martialed at the end of the expedition, but was acquitted.

Its species epithet macrobotrys means “long grape cluster”, from the Greek makros "long" and botrys "bunch of grapes", referring to the fruit; the genus name derives from strongylos "round", and odous "tooth", referring to the rounded teeth of the calyx.

Description

It has thick stems up to 2 cm in diameter, which it uses to crawl up tall trees to reach sunlight. Its stems that can reach up to 18 m in length. The vine entwines itself through its host's trunk and branches.

Its pale green foliage spreads over the canopy and are arranged alternately. Each leaf consists of three oblong leaflets with mucronate tips, the middle leaflet is the largest.

Flowers

Close up of flower.

The claw-shaped or beak-shaped flowers are carried in pendent trusses or pseudoracemes of 75 or more flowers and can reach as much as 3 m long. The turquoise flower color is similar to some forms of the minerals turquoise and jade, varying from blue-green to mint green.

The flowers hang like clusters of grapes from inflorescences produced by mature vines. Each individual bloom resembles a stout-bodied butterfly with folded wings; they have evolved certain modifications to allow them to be pollinated by a species of bat that hangs upside down on the inflorescence to drink its nectar.

Their bright coloration has been shown to be an example of copigmentation, a result of the presence of malvin (an anthocyanin) and saponarin (a flavone glucoside) in the ratio 1:9. Under the alkaline conditions (pH 7.9) found in the sap of the epidermal cells, this combination produced a pink pigmentation; the pH of the colorless inner floral tissue was found to be lower, at pH 5.6. Experiments showed that saponarin produced a strong yellow colouring in slightly alkaline conditions, resulting in the greenish tone of the flower.

Fruit

Jade vine fruit

The short, oblong, fleshy seedpods are up to 15 cm long and contain up to 12 seeds. The jade vine is bat-pollinated in the wild, thus it must be hand-pollinated in greenhouses to bear its fruit, which can grow to be melon-sized. This has been done over the years at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew Gardens in England, where seed conservation is an ongoing focus, especially in the face of loss of rainforest habitat.

Strongylodon macrobotrys - Wikipedia

 

 

 

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