Chamissoa altissima (Jacq.) Kunth

Bosque seco y húmedo, áreas alteradas.

Distribucion en Costa Rica: En todo el país, en elevaciones de 0 a 1.500 m.
Distribucion General: De México a Argentina.

Hierba.

Arbusto o subarbusto, usualmente trepador. Hojas alternas, de 2,5"10 por 1,5"6 cm, ovado-lanceoladas o anchamente ovadas; lámina entera o suavemente ondulada. Inflorescencias de 3 a 10 cm de largo, espigas solitarias o dispuestas en estructuras paniculadas. Flores bisexuales o funcionalmente unisexuales, sostenidas por 1 bráctea y 2 bractéolas, ambas diferentes y persistentes; con 5 tépalos, imbricados; 5 estambres, unidos cerca de la base y formando un tubo corto; ovario unilocular; 1 estilo; 2 estigmas, esbeltos. Frutos de 3 a 4 mm de largo, cápsulas con dehiscencia circuncísil cerca del ápice; semillas negras, endosperma copioso. Se reconoce por su hábito escandente, sus hojas alternas y sus flores dispuestas en espigas, que a menudo forman estructuras paniculadas.

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Chamissoa altissima (Jacq.) H. B. K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 2: 197
1817.
Celosia paniculata I,. Sp. PL ed. 2. 298. 1762. Not C. paniculata I,. 1753. Achyranthes altissima Jacq. Enum. PI. Carib. 17. 1762. Celosia sparsa Forsyth; Moq. in DC. Prodr. 13 2 : 250, as synonym. 1849. Achyranthes baccata Pav.; Moq. in DC. Prodr. 13 2 : 250, as synonym. 1849. Chamissoa altissima laxifiora Moq. in DC. Prodr. 13 2 : 251. 1849. Chamissoa altissima densiflora Moq. in DC. Prodr. 13 2 : 251. 1849. Chamissoa Martii Moq. in DC. Prodr. 13 2 : 252. 1849. Kokera paniculata Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 542. 1891.
Stems stout, suffrutescent at the base, 6-20 dm. long or more, divaricately branched, usually climbing over trees or shrubs, sometimes erect, smooth or sulcate, green, glabrous or sparsely pilose; petioles slender, 1-3.5 cm. long; leaf-blades 6-18 cm. long, 2-8.5 cm. wide, ovate, ovate-oblong, lanceolate, or oval, abruptly acuminate or acute at the apex, acute to truncate at the base, glabrous, or sparsely pilose beneath, bright-green; flowers in large terminal and axillary, naked or leafy panicles composed of numerous stout or slender, densely or loosely flowered spikes 2-20 cm. long and 0.6-2 cm. thick, the sterile spikes more slender and less densely flowered than the fertile ones, the rachises of the inflorescence commonly pubescent; flowers greenishwhite ; bracts thin, about half as long as the sepals, ovate or broadly ovate, mucronate; sepals 3-4 mm. long, oval to oblong or ovate, acute or acuminate, sometimes mucronate, firm in age, carinate, prominently and coarsely nerved; style shorter than the elongate stigmas; utricle globose or oblong-ovoid, equaling or slightly exceeding the sepals, margined and usually depressed at the apex, circumscissile at or below the middle; aril bivalvate, enclosing the seed; seed flat, 2-2.5 mm. in diameter, black and lustrous, punctulate.
Type locality: Jamaica.
Distribution: In thickets, subtropical Florida (?) ; southern and western Mexico and throughout Central America; West Indies; also from Colombia to Peru and Brazil.

Chamissoa altissima, or false chaff flower, is native to North and South America. In Brazil it grows in the Cerrado vegetation.

Chamissoa altissima une herbe plus ou moins lianescente originaire des Amériques. On la trouve notamment au Brésil dans la végétation du Cerrado.

On l'appelle liane-panier (Liann Panye) en Haïti, où elle est consommée comme légume-feuille (il est traditionnellement déconseillé d'en consommer en cas d'hypertension artérielle). On la connaît aussi sous les noms de Hierba del arloma au Mexique, et basket withe ou false chaff flower en anglais.

Chamissoa altissima là loài thực vật có hoa thuộc họ Dền. Loài này được (Jacq.) Kunth mô tả khoa học đầu tiên năm 1818.