Ipomoea quamoclit L.
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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, 2-7 m in length, with watery latex. Stems cylindrical, slender, glabrous. Leaves alternate or clustered on short axillary branches; blades deeply pinnatisect, ovate or elliptical in outline, with 9-19 pairs of linear segments, alternate or opposite, 1-9 cm long, chartaceous. puberulous or glabrous; petioles not evident. Flowers solitary or 2-6 in cymes; peduncles as long as or longer than the leaves; bracts ovate, ca. 1 mm long. Calyx green, not accrescent, of 5 unequal sepals, 4-7 mm long, chartaceous, ovate, the outer ones shorter than the inner ones, glabrous, obtuse at the apex, with a mucro that is borne below the apex; corolla red (sometimes white), hypoc rated form, 2-3 cm long, the limb with deep lobes, deltate, obtuse; stamens and stigmas pink, exserted. Capsule ovoid to conical, with a thin pericarp, lepidote outside, 8-10 mm long: seeds 4 per fruit, cuneiform. 7-8 mm. long, dark brown to black, with tufts of irregularly scattered hairs.
Phenology - Flowering from August to February, collected in fruit in February.
Conservation Status - Exotic, cultivated and naturalized, uncommon.