''Marcgravia umbellata'', also called monkey paws, is a species of flowering

vine A vine is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas, or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselves, for instance, when used in wicker work.Jackson; Benjamin; Da ...

in the family

Marcgraviaceae The Marcgraviaceae are a neotropical angiosperm family in the order Ericales. The members of the family are shrubs, woody epiphytes, and lianas, with alternate, pinnately nerved leaves. The flowers are arranged in racemes. The flowers are accom ...

. It is native to the

Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles is a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea, forming part of the West Indies in Caribbean, Caribbean region of the Americas. They are distinguished from the larger islands of the Greater Antilles to the west. They form an arc w ...

islands in the eastern

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

and

Anguilla Anguilla is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Sa ...

. They are part of the guild

photoautotroph Photoautotrophs are organisms that can utilize light energy from sunlight, and elements (such as carbon) from inorganic compounds, to produce organic materials needed to sustain their own metabolism (i.e. autotrophy). Such biological activitie ...

. Marcgravia umbellata was the first member of the marcgraviaceae family to be described in modern botanical literature.

References

Plants of the Eastern Caribbean entry
* Howard, R. 1974–1989. Flora of the Lesser Antilles.

External links

umbellata Flora of the Leeward Islands Flora of the Windward Islands Vines Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Ericales-stub