Ipomoea

Ipomoea

Uses your system voice; voice and rate in settings.

Snapshot

≈ 3 min read

Names in other languages

No names in other languages are held for this entry yet.

Article bodies are English and are not machine-translated. A name in another language is not a translation of the article.

Ipomoea ( ) is the largest genus in the plant family Convolvulaceae, with over 600 species. It is a large and diverse group, with common names including morning glory, water Convolvulus or water spinach, sweet potato, bindweed, moonflower, etc. The genus occurs throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the world, and comprises annual and perennial herbaceous plants, lianas, shrubs, and small trees; most of the species are twining climbing plants.

]] ]] ]] ]] Ipomoea ( ) is the largest genus in the plant family Convolvulaceae, with over 600 species. It is a large and diverse group, with common names including morning glory, water Convolvulus or water spinach, sweet potato, bindweed, moonflower, etc. The genus occurs throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the world, and comprises annual and perennial herbaceous plants, lianas, shrubs, and small trees; most of the species are twining climbing plants.

Description

Vegetative characteristics

Ipomoea are annual or perennial twining, prostrate or erect, herbs, shrubs, lianas, or trees usually with twining or trailing stems bearing simple, or rarely compound leaves.

Generative characteristics

The few- to many-flowered, axillary, solitary or cymose inflorescences bear small to large, blue, red, pink, purple, white, orange, or yellow, pentamerous flowers.

Taxonomy

The genus Ipomoea was described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. It has 642 accepted species. The type species is Ipomoea pes-tigridis Within the family Convolvulaceae, it is placed in the tribe Ipomoeeae.

Common names

Their most widespread common name is morning glory, but some species in related genera bear that same common name and some Ipomoea species are known by different common names. Those formerly separated in Calonyction (Greek "good" and , , , "night") are called moonflowers.

Etymology

The name Ipomoea is derived from the Ancient Greek , meaning , and ( ), meaning "resembling". It refers to their twining habit.

Ecology

Uses

Ipomoea sepiaria is part of the Dashapushpam (Ten sacred flowers) in Kerala and is known as "Thiruthali" in Malayalam. Moon vine (I. alba) sap was used for vulcanization of the latex of Castilla elastica (Panama rubber tree, Nahuatl: olicuáhuitl) to rubber; as it happens, the rubber tree seems well-suited for the vine to twine upon, and the two species are often found together. As early as 1600 BCE, the Olmecs produced the balls used in the Mesoamerican ballgame.

Gallery

File:MorningGlory5.jpg|Whitestar potato (I. lacunosa) File:Ipomoea carnea.jpg|Ipomoea carnea in Brazil File:Ipomoea cairica (2).jpg|Ipomoea cairica File:Ипомея. Восточная Сибирь.jpg|Ipomoea purpurea, Eastern Siberia File:Campanitas (in Spanish) (4352689627).jpg| Ipomoea campanulata, India.