Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

164
Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands
20a. Sepals with apices long-acuminate, elongate, much longer than the body ....................... 11. I. nil
20b. Sepals with apices acute or slightly acuminate .......................................................14. I. purpurea
21a. Leaves elliptical, oblong, or lanceolate, hastate or auriculate at the base ........... 19. I. tenuissima
21b. Leaves ovate, broadly ovate, or oblong, cordiform or truncate at the base ................................. 22
22a. Corolla pink or violet-pink; sepals with the margins not hyaline ............................................... 23
22b. Corolla blue, turning violet when mature; sepals with hyaline margins .................. 22. I. tricolor
23a. Sepals with three parallel veins, prominent, like a keel ............................................17. I. setifera
23b. Sepals without prominent veins .................................................................................................... 24
24a. Young stems 4-winged; sepals obtuse or retuse at the apex ....................................... 3. I. calantha
24b. Young stems cylindrical; sepals apiculate at the apex .............................................. 20. I. tiliacea
1. Ipomoea alba L., Sp. Pl. 161. 1753.
Fig. 64. A-E
SYNONYMS: Calonyction aculeatum (L.) House
Calonyction bona-nox (L.) Bojer
Bejuco de puerco, Bejuco de vaca, Claro de
luna, Flor de luna
Twining vine, slightly woody, climbing or
creeping, 5-20 m in length, with scarce milky or
watery latex. Stems cylindrical, slender, fragile,
glabrous, green, with the nodes mulberry-colored
and with spiniform projections. Leaves alternate;
blades simple or sometimes 3-5-lobed, 7-18 × 8-
16 cm, broadly ovate, chartaceous or
subcoriaceous, glabrous, the apex acute or
acuminate, the base cordiform, the margins
undulate and slightly revolute, entire or 3-7lobate;
upper surface dark green, dull; lower
surface pale green, with prominent venation;
petioles 6-24 cm long, fragile, usually mulberrycolored,
with the base somewhat broadened.
Flowers fragrant, nocturnal, solitary or few in
axillary racemes; peduncle cylindrical, 4-15 cm
long. Calyx green, the sepals 2.5-3 cm long,
lanceolate, long-aristate and revolute at the apex;
corolla white, hypocrateriform, 10-12 cm long,
the tube narrow, light green inside, the limb 5lobed,
9-12 cm in diameter, with 5 light green
lines outside forming a star; stamens and stigmas
white, exserted. Capsules ovoid-conical, 2-3 cm
long, with a persistent style; seeds 4, dark brown
to black, glabrous, ca. 1 cm long, with two sides
flat and one convex.
Phenology: Flowering and fruiting
sporadically throughout the year.
Status: Possibly native, rather common.
Distribution: In moist areas, along roads and
in pastures at middle and lower elevations. Also
on Vieques. Cultivated throughout the tropics but
native to continental tropical America.
Public forests: El Yunque, Guánica, Maricao,
and Río Abajo.
2. Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam., Encycl. Méth. 6:
14. 1804.
Fig. 64. F-G
BASIONYM: Convolvulus batatas L.
Batata, Camote, Sweet potato
Creeping vine, with the younger portions
twining and ascending, 3-4 m in length, with
abundant milky latex. Roots tuberous, edible.
Stems cylindrical, slender, flexible, glabrous or
pubescent, usually producing aerial roots in the
area of the nodes. Leaves alternate; blades simple
or 3-7-lobed, 6-13 × 6-10 cm, when simple
broadly ovate, deltoid, chartaceous, glabrous, the
apex acute, obtuse, or acuminate, mucronulate,
the base cordiform, lyrate, or truncate, the margins
entire; upper surface dark green, dull; lower
surface pale green, with prominent venation;
petioles 5-12 cm long, glabrous. Flowers few, in
axillary dichasial cymes; peduncle cylindrical, 7-
12 cm long. Calyx green, not accrescent, the
sepals oblong, unequal, 8-12 mm long, aristate
at the apex; corolla violet-pink, infundibuliformcampanulate,
3-4.5 cm long, the limb ca. 4 cm in
diameter, with 5 rounded lobes; stamens and
stigmas not exserted. Capsules depressed-globose,