Ipomoea triloba L.
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Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
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Family
Convolvulaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Herbaceous twining or creeping vine to 3 m long, producing scanty milky sap; stems cylindrical, slender and puberulent. Leaf blades 3-6 x 3-5 cm, chartaceous, ovate to subrounded, usually 3(-5)-lobed, glabrous or puberulent, the lobes more or less deeply cut, acute or acuminate at apex, usually mucronate, the base cordate or sagittate; petioles slender, 2-7 cm long, with 2 glands at base of blade. Flowers in compound or simple, axillary dichasial cymes; peduncle tuberculate, usually longer than the subtending petiole; bracts minute; pedicels tuberculate. Calyx light green, ca. 8 mm long, the sepals unequal, ovate to oblanceolate, acuminate or acute at apex, pilose; corolla funnel- to bell-shaped, pink or lavender, usually reddish within at base, 1.4-1.6 cm long, with 5 obtuse lobes; stamens and pistil white, included. Capsule depressed-globose with persistent style, brown, pilose, ca. 8 mm diam. Seeds 5 mm long, dark brown to black, glabrous.
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Distribution
A common weed of open disturbed areas. Enighed (A3099), Lind Point (A2314), trail to Sieben (A2056). Also on St. Croix, St. Thomas, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda; native to tropical America, now widespread as a weed throughout the tropics.
Virgin Gorda Virgin Islands South America| Tortola Virgin Islands South America| Saint Thomas Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Saint Croix Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Saint John Virgin Islands of the United States South America|