''Paullinia paullinioides'' is a flowering plant species in the genus of ''

Paullinia ''Paullinia'' is a genus of flowering shrubs, small trees and lianas in the soapberry family, Sapindaceae and typical of tribe Paullinieae. It is native to tropical South America, Central America and the Caribbean. The genus is named after t ...

'' found in South America. It was first described in 1895, by

Ludwig Adolph Timotheus Radlkofer Ludwig Adolph Timotheus Radlkofer (19 December 1829, in Munich – 16 February 1927, in Munich), was a Bavarian taxonomist and botanist. Radlkofer became a physician in 1854 and earned a PhD in botany at University of Jena, Jena the following yea ...

Description

''Paullinia paullinioides'' is a tropical

liana A liana is a long-Plant stem, stemmed Woody plant, woody vine that is rooted in the soil at ground level and uses trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the Canopy (biology), canopy in search of direct sunlight. T ...

. It has trifoliolate leaves with elliptic to ovate leaflets and fruit with spines long.

Distribution

''Paullinia paullinioides'' is found in the

Amazon Basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributary, tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries ...

in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. It has also been observed in Venezuela.

Ecology

The species is host to the '' Muscodor vitigenus'' fungus that produces nearly pure

naphthalene Naphthalene is an organic compound with formula . It is the simplest polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, and is a white Crystal, crystalline solid with a characteristic odor that is detectable at concentrations as low as 0.08 Parts-per notation ...

which acts as an

insect repellent An insect repellent (also commonly called "bug spray" or "bug deterrent") is a substance applied to the skin, clothing, or other surfaces to discourage insects (and arthropods in general) from landing or climbing on that surface. Insect repellent ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15527797 Plants described in 1895 Flora of the Amazon Flora of Colombia Flora of Peru Flora of Venezuela paulliniodes