Dischidia puberula was first collected for scientific analysis by French botanist Charles Gaudichaud-Beaupré during the Freycinet expedition to the Mariana Islands in 1819. Gaudichaud mentioned in his botanical survey an unnamed Dischidia species growing up trees on Guam, although he recorded no indigenous name for the plant.[3] Gaudichaud's specimens are housed in the Geneva Herbarium[4] and the holotype is in Paris.[5] Gaudichaud may have mistaken the plant for Dischidia bengalensis.[6] In 1844, the Swiss botanist Augustin Pyramus de Candolle first described the species in the scientific literature based on the specimen from Paris and provided the name of French botanist Joseph Decaisne as the authority.[7]
Dischidia puberula as a yellow-green creeper festooning tree trunks, including coconut. Upper branches spread and hang from their host. Stems are warty with soft hairs and rooting at nodes. Leaves are connected in an opposite arrangement on the stem by a short petiole (1-2.2 cm). Leaves are thick, fleshy, and oval-elliptic with acute angle at the tip. Flowers are on a very short peduncle in 2s or 3s; flowers are small, urn-shaped, fleshy, pilose, somewhat glaucous, yellowish or greenish yellow, with a pale orange corolla below, and yellowish lobes within.[8][9][10][6][11] De Candolle, in the original description, described flowers having 2 or 3 petals, whereas William Safford noted petals and calyxes of 5, with obtuse divisions. Stamens of 5 are connate. Anthers have a membranous tip with 1 pollen mass in each cell. Pendulous coronal processes are adnate to the stamens, erect, and split above. De Candolle found the corolla to be similar to the Southeast Asian Dischidia punctata,[12] but with Dischidia puberula having hairs. Stone (1970) commented that the fruits had never been observed.[13] The plant exudes copious milky sap, consistent with other milkweeds.[14][7] Merrill (1914) and Galssman (1949) make only passing reference to the plant,[15][16] and it was not mentioned in Costion's checklist of Micronesian plants.[17]
Leaf tissue from preserved specimens was sampled for chemical analysis by Eliot Smith and Edward Straw in 2023.[18]
Dischidia puberula has been observed most commonly on Guam, in both the northern limestone plateau and volcanic south.[19] P. Moore found it to be common in the limestone forests of Guam as of 1980.[20] It has also been observed on Rota, southwest of the Taga Quarry.[21] Tatyana Livshultz from the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard University identified two specimens from Vonikoro (Solomon Island) as Dischidia puberula in 2006 (rather than the Solomon Island endemic Dischidia cominsii), although the flowers were described as red with yellow petal tips,[22] or pink petals with white tips.[23] However, as of 2025, Plants of the World Online still lists Dischidia puberula as being endemic only to the Mariana Islands.[24] The IUCN has not yet assessed the species for conservation status.
Epiphytic growth habit of D. puberula observed in northern Guam.Epiphytic habit of D. puberula with roots secured to host tree species (Macaranga thompsonii).Opposite leaf arrangement. Guam.
Fruits of Dischidia puberula. Guam.
Developing and mature fruits. Guam
Fruits of Dischidia puberula and roots from nodes. Guam.
Fruit of Dischidia puberula and roots from node. Guam
^"Image zoom". www.gbif.org. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
^Merrill (1913). The Philippine journal of science. Vol. 9. Manila: Bureau of Science - Industrial Technology Development Institute (Philippines). p. 131.
^Glassman, S.F. (1948). Journal of the Arnold Arboretum. Vol. 29. Cambridge, Mass: Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University. p. 137.
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Fruits of Dischidia puberula. Guam.
Developing and mature fruits. Guam
Fruits of Dischidia puberula and roots from nodes. Guam.
Fruit of Dischidia puberula and roots from node. Guam
