Ipomoea stolonifera (Cirillo) J. F. Gmel.

• Title

  Ipomoea stolonifera (Cirillo) J. F. Gmel.

• Authors

  Nathaniel Lord Britton, Frances W. Horne

• Scientific Name

  Ipomoea stolonifera (Cirillo) J.F.Gmel.

• Description

  Flora Borinqueña Ipomoea stolonifera Bejuco de casta Coastal White Morning-glory Family Convolvulaceae Morning-glory Family Convolvulus stoloniferus Cyrilli, Plantarum Rariorum Regni Neapolitani 1: 14. 1788. Convolvulus arenarius Vahl, Symbolae Botanicae 1: 18. 1790. Convolvulus acetosaefolius Vahl, Ecologae Botanicae 1: 18. 1796. Ipomoea stolonifera in Lamarck, Encyclopédique Méthodique Botanique 6: 20. 1804 Unusual, interesting and attractive, by having stems buried in sand, which send up leaves and large white flowers from their nodes, these looking, at first sight, like individual plants arranged in rows. This peculiar plant is locally common in coastal sands of Porto Rico, and grows also on the small islands Vieques and Culebra. Its geographic range is very wide, along West Indian coasts, north to South Carolina, throughout those of tropical continental America, and in the Old World tropics and subtropics. For an account of the genus we refer to our description of Ipomoea polyanthes. Ipomoea stolonifera (referring to the buried stem) is long and slender, covered by several inches of sand, and sends up flowering branches from 5 to 20 centimeters high, which are fleshy and smooth, and occasionally twine on bushes. The leaves are long-stalked, variously lobed, or without teeth or lobes, ovate in outline or broader, from 3 to 7 centimeters long, the base narrowed, rounded, or somewhat heart-shaped. The solitary, or few flowers have a stalk mostly shorter than the leaves; the oval, or oblong, minutely-tipped sepals are from 10 to 15 centimeters long; the bright white corolla is 4 or 5 centimeters long, and about as broad as long. The globose capsule is from 10 to 15 millimeters in diameter, the seeds smooth.