Devil’s potato, rubbervine

Echites echites Britton

Vines twining. Stems glabrous. Leaves: petiole 5–8 mm, glabrous or sparsely [densely] pubescent; blade oblong-elliptic or ovate to suborbiculate, 3.5–7 × 1.5–4.5 cm, subcoriaceous, base obtuse to rounded or slightly cordate, margins slightly revolute, apex acuminate to apiculate or mucronate, surfaces glabrous. Peduncles 35–60 mm, glabrous. Pedicels 10–25 mm, gla­brous. Flowers: calyx lobes ovate to narrowly tri­angular, 1.5–5 mm, glabrous; corolla glabrous abaxially, eglandular-pubescent adaxially, tube 20–55 × 1.5–4 mm, conspicuously widened at or below middle, lobes spreading, not overlapping or for at most 1/4 length from base, obovate, crisped distally, 11–18 × 12–16 mm. Follicles strongly divaricate, 60–130(–260) × 5–7 mm. Seeds 5–7 × 1.5–2 mm. 2n = 12.

Flowering spring–fall; fruiting spring–early winter. Coastal pinelands, hammocks, beach dunes; 0–10 m; Fla.; Mexico; West Indies; Central America; South America (Colombia).

Echites umbellatus has been documented in Florida from Brevard County southward on the east coast and also from the keys. The species is thought to be the native host plant for the oleander caterpillar (Syntomeida epilais), which is common in Florida and Georgia and often causes severe defoliation of Nerium oleander in southern Florida (H. E. Bratley 1932).