Ipomoea steudelii Millsp.
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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 - Twining vine, slightly woody, much branched from the base, 2-3 m in length, with scarce milky latex (almost imperceptible). Stems cylindrical, slender, light brown, glabrous, striate. Leaves alternate, clustered on short axillary branches; blades simple, 3-18 x 1.3-14 mm, lyrate, reniform, deltate, or deeply 3-5-lobed, membranaceous, glabrous, the apex retuse, with the midvein projecting like a mucro, the base subcordiform, truncate, or cuneate, the margins slightly sinuate; upper surface dark green, dull, glabrous, with the veins flat; lower surface pale green, with the midvein thick and prominent; petioles 2-15 mm long, glabrous, slender. Flowers solitary, at the end of minute axillary branches, which present the scars of the deciduous leaves. Calyx green, the sepals glabrous, unequal, 7- 1 1 mm long, ovate, obtuse at the apex; corolla crimson, hypocrateriform, 3.5-4 cm long, the limb ca. 2.5 cm in diameter, with 5 more or less deep lobes, narrowly deltate; stamens and stigmas exserted. Fruits ellipsoid to subconical, 1-1 .2 cm long, light brown; seeds 4 per fruit, dark brown, ca. 5.5 mm long, with a row of whitish silky hairs longer than the seed, at the apex and on the back.
Phenology - Flowering from November to May and fruiting from January to July.
Conservation Status - Native, locally common.