''Trichostigma octandrum'' is a species of flowering plant in the family

Petiveriaceae Petiveriaceae is a family of flowering plants formerly included as subfamily Rivinoideae in Phytolaccaceae. The family comprises nine genera, with about 20 known species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxo ...

. It was formerly placed in the

pokeweed ''Phytolacca americana'', also known as American pokeweed, pokeweed, poke sallet, dragonberries, and inkberry, is a poisonous, herbaceous perennial plant in the pokeweed family Phytolaccaceae. This pokeweed grows . It has simple leaves on green ...

family,

Phytolaccaceae Phytolaccaceae is a family (biology), family of flowering plants. Though almost universally recognized by Taxonomy (biology), taxonomists, its circumscription has varied. It is also known as the Pokeweed family. The APG II system, of 2003 (unch ...

. It is native to the

Neotropics The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropics, tropical Ecoregion#Terrestrial, terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperat ...

. It is known in English as hoopvine (Florida), black basket wythe, cooper's wythe, basket wiss or basket with, and hoop with. Common French names include liane pannier or liane a barques ('basket vine' or 'barrel vine'). Spanish names include bejuco canesta, sotacaballo, and pabello, (Puerto Rico, Central America, basket vine, substitute horse, or pavilion). The plant has

medicinal Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practic ...

and

fiber Fiber or fibre (from la, fibra, links=no) is a natural or artificial substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. The strongest engineering materials often incorporate ...

uses.Hoopvine, the plant that wasn't there.
Austin, Accessed 2010-11-23USDA Index
Accessed 2010-11-23

Description

''Trichostigma octandrum'' strongly resembles pigeonberry (''

Rivina humilis ''Rivina humilis'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Petiveriaceae. It was formerly placed in the pokeweed family, Phytolaccaceae. It can be found in the southern United States, the Caribbean, Central America, and Tropics, tropical S ...

''). These are shrubs or free-standing vines up to 10 m wide and 6 m tall, with hairless twining, trailing or climbing stems. The stems range from 4–15 cm in diameter. The leaves are entire 4–9 cm blades ovate on long petioles. The apex is short and glabrous. The flowers form clusters, 5–7 cm long in a narrow raceme with flowers on stalks 4–6 cm long. The oval sepals are reflexed away from the fruit, 4–6 mm long and glabrous. The fruit are reddish-purple fleshy oval berries 4–5 mm long. The pollinator is unknown, but may be mosquitoes. The plant is spread by birds, who eat the fruit, but is also cultivated as a decorative plant or bower, as a fiber, and for medicine.

Habitat and range

It is found Florida, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America as far as Argentina. In Puerto Rico, it grows in farm and urban areas, where the species grows on roadsides,

fencerow In agriculture, fences are used to keep animals in or out of an area. They can be made from a wide variety of materials, depending on terrain, location and animals to be confined. Most agricultural fencing averages about high, and in some places ...

woodlot A woodlot is a parcel of a woodland or forest capable of small-scale production of forest products (such as wood fuel, sap for maple syrup, sawlogs, and pulpwood) as well as recreational uses like bird watching, bushwalking, and wildflower apprecia ...

s, brushy pastures, brushy vacant lots, and stream bottom galleries. The shrub also covers windfalls, fences, rocks, and forms mounds of tangled stems to 2 m high in open areas. Hoopvine grows on soils of all textures in a wide range of pH’s derived from both igneous, metamorphic (including ultramafics) and sedimentary (including limestone) rocks. In Puerto Rico, it grows in areas receiving from 900 to 2500 mm of precipitation. The plant also grows in tropical swamps near the edges of hammocks and brakes. It is most common near the coasts, but also occurs at rare intervals in the Florida

Everglades The Everglades is a natural region of tropical climate, tropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large drainage basin within the Neotropical realm. The system begins near Orland ...

Uses

Both the split stems and bast fibers have been used to make barrel hoops, baskets, bent furniture and crafts. Young leaves may be boiled and eaten as vegetables, discarding the bitter water. It is grown ornamentally and is a large sturdy plant that may be trained into bowers and enclosures. The purple juice from the berries stains, and may form a dye. Vegetative parts may be used for heart palpitations. A powder of the bark may be used to treat colds and water retention. Colombians use the leaves to help cure wounds. Hispaniolans use a tea to help with asthma or choking. The fruits are also used in medicines. Related genera '' Petivera'' and ''

Phytolacca ''Phytolacca'' is a genus of perennial plants native to North America, South America and East Asia. Some members of the genus are known as pokeweeds or similar names such as pokebush, pokeberry, pokeroot or poke sallet. Other names for species ...

'' are known to have many bioactive compounds.

References

External links

Pictures of hoopvine on St. John Island
Waynesword, Accessed 2010-11-23 {{Taxonbar, from=Q7841038 Petiveriaceae Plants described in 1909 Fiber plants