Ipomoea purpurea (L.) Roth
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Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro. 2005. Vines and climbing plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 51: 1-483.
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Family
Convolvulaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Description - Herbaceous vine, twining, 2-3 m in length. Stems cylindrical, slender, pilose or hirsute. Leaves alternate; blades simple, 2-10 x 2-10 cm, cordiform or deeply trilobed, the lobes ovate or lanceolate, chartaceous, strigulose on both surfaces, the apex acuminate, the base cordiform, the margins entire or slightly sinuate, ciliate; upper and lower surface with the veins slightly prominent; petioles 2.5-6 cm long, slender, strigulose, sulcate. Flowers solitary or in simple dichasia, axillary; peduncles longer than the petioles; bracts subulate, ca. 3 mm long, not forming an involucre. Calyx green, of 5 subequal sepals, 8-16 mm long, chartaceous, oblong-lanceolate, the outer ones slightly broader than the inner ones, acute at the apex, hirsute outside on the basal portion; corolla blue, purple, pink, or with lines (forming a star) of these colors on a white background, infundibuliform, 4-4.5 cm long, the throat white, limb with shallow, rounded lobes; stamens and stigmas pink, not exserted. Capsule depressed-globose, 9-10 mm in diameter, glabrous, the pericarp thin, with the chartaceous sepals persistent at the base; seeds 4 per fruit, pyriform, 3-4 mm long, black, glabrous.
Phenology - Flowering from June to January.
Conservation Status - Exotic, uncommon.