atoll research bulletin no. 392 the flora of - Smithsonian Institution ...

was formerly planted by the Japanese during World War 11. Tender leaves and shoots
cooked as a green vegetable; usually propagated by cuttings. 5(24), 6, 7.
Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.
te kumara (K); kumala (T); fan shue (C)
syn. Convolvulus batatas L.
"sweet potato", "kumara"
Pre-World War I introduction. Trop. America. Occasional. Smooth or pubescent
creeping, herbaceous, perennial, vine with milky sap, forming large, edible tuberous
roots; leaves, 4 to 15 cm long and 3 to 11 cm wide, green, limp, variable, deltoid-ovate
to ovate orbicular, entire or palmately 3- to 5-lobed or -parted, cordate or subcordate,
commonly with 2 prominent basal lobes, acute; petioles, slender, 3 to 15 cm long, often
longer than blade; flowers, several to many in long-peduncled cymes; corolla, usually 3
to 5 cm long, tubular and spreading, pale rose-violet, darker purplish in the throat, rarely
white; sepals (calyx-lobes), about 10 to 15 mm long, briefly mucronate; fruit, a capsule;
tubers, about 5 to 10 per plant, normally 10 to 30 cm long and 100 g to 1 kg in weight,
fusiform to globular, usually smooth but sometimes ridged, skin white, yellow, orange,
red, purple or brown, flesh waxy-white, yellowish, orange, reddish or purple, developing
in the top 25 cm of the soil by secondary thickening of adventitious roots. Cultivated in
contract laborers' food gardens at Location and Topside workshops; spontaneous along
roadsides in some areas of Topside. Tuberous roots cooked as a staple and young leaves
of some varieties occasionally cooked as a green vegetable. Dominant staple food plant
and livestock feed in most of Papua New Guinea, parts of Solomon Islands and an
important supplementary staple in many areas of Polynesia and Micronesia; leaves are
also cooked as a vegetable green and an important livestock feed in some areas of the
Pacific. 5, 6, 7.
Ipomoea fistulosa Mart. ex Choisy
syn. I. crassicaulis (Benth .) Rob.
"bush morning-glory "
Recent introduction. Brazil. Occasional. Perennial shrub, up to 3 m tall, with stiff
but rather rambling branches; leaves, 6 to 25 cm long and 4 to 17 cm wide, ovate to
heart-shaped, acuminate, midrib dorsally with 2 basal glands; petiole, 3 to 15 cm long;
flowers, mostly 5 to 9 cm long, tubular, rather pale pink, but darker within the tube,
day-blooming, borne in axillary, few-flowered cymes; sepals, 5, about 5 mm long, ovate
orbicular; fruit, 1.5 to 2 cm long, ovoid; seeds, brownish pubescent. Planted ornamental,
often along borders of home allotments. Has become naturalized in other areas of the
Pacific and in S. E. Asia. 3(58617), 5(198), 6, 7.