Ipomoea parasitica (Kunth) G. Don

Wood, John R. I., Munoz-Rodriguez, Pablo, Williams, Bethany R. M. & Scotland, Robert W., 2020, A foundation monograph of Ipomoea (Convolvulaceae) in the New World, PhytoKeys 143, pp. 1-823 : 1

270. Ipomoea parasitica (Kunth) G. Don , Gen. Hist. 4: 275. 1838. (Don 1838: 275)

Convolvulus parasiticus Kunth , Nov. Gen. Sp. 3: 103. 1818 [pub. 1819]. (Kunth 1819: 103). Type. VENEZUELA. near Caracas, Humboldt & Bonpland s.n. (holotype P00670753!).

Convolvulus circinnatus Willd. ex Roem. & Schult. , Syst. Veg. 4: 302. 1819. Type. VENEZUELA. Caracas, Bonpland & Humboldt 660 (holotype BW03703010).

Ipomoea perlonga B.L. Rob. , Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 29: 319. 1894. (Robinson 1894: 319). Type. MEXICO. Jalisco, Tequila, C.G. Pringle 4519 (holotype GH00054527, isotypes BKL, BM, COLO, E, F, GOET, K, M, MA, MEXU, MIN, MSC, MU, NDG, NY, P, PH, S, UC, VT).

Type.

Based on Convolvulus parasiticus .

Description.

Annual or short-lived perennial twining herb to 7 m; stem rather stout and with scattered soft spiny projections, branches rigid. Leaves petiolate, 3-10 × 2-9 cm, ovate, cordate with rounded auricles, apex finely acuminate, abaxially paler, usually adaxially thinly pubescent, sometimes glabrous; petioles 3-5 cm, puberulent. Inflorescence of pedunculate, axillary cymes; peduncles stout, 3-5 cm; bracteoles 3 mm, linear-lanceolate, caducous; secondary peduncles 4-6 mm; pedicels 15-22 mm, stout, thinly puberulent, spreading at a wide angle and often reflexed in fruit; sepals slightly unequal, broadly elliptic with wide scarious margins, outer 6-7 × 5 mm, obtuse and mucronate, abaxially with a few hairs, inner sepals similar but rounded and minutely mucronulate, glabrous; corolla sericeous in bud, 2.5-4 cm long, funnel-shaped, tube white outside, yellow inside, limb blue (drying pink), c. 3 cm diam., deeply lobed. Capsules 7-12 × 5 mm, glabrous, ovoid, acute above a small apical corona; seeds 6-7 mm, brown, glabrous.

Distribution.

Widely distributed in America from Mexico south to Bolivia but scattered in occurrence, generally uncommon and often of uncertain status. It is usually found on fences, field border and similar disturbed bushy places at altitudes below 1000 m.

BRAZIL. Principally in the north east: Ceará: J.P. Souza et al. 11034 (RB). Dist. Fed.: H.S. Irwin et al. 15862 (MO, NY, RB, W). Goiás: H.S. Irwin et al. 14959 (FTG, MO, NY). Minas Gerais: A. Macedo 676 (MO), G. Pereira-Silva et al. 6364 (CEN). Paraíba: J. Coelho de Moraes 1841 (RB). Pernambuco: Miranda et al. 483 (PEUFR); E.P. Heringer et al. 720 (IPA, NY). Rio Grande do Norte: J. Freitas 10100 (UFRN). Serjipe: D.G. Oliveira 300 (ASE). Also Bahia and Maranhão fide Flora do Brasil (2020).

BOLIVIA. Santa Cruz: Ichilo, Buenavista, J. Dorantes et al. 1710 (CTES); Ñuflo de Chávez, San Javier, M. Mendoza & Rivadineira 2431 (USZ, K); J.R.I. Wood & D. Soto 27944 (OXF, K, LPB, USZ).

PERU. Lambayeque: T. Plowman et al. 14300 (F, MO). Tumbes: A. Gentry & C. Díaz 58297 (MO).

VENEZUELA. Aragua: A. Fendler 930 (K, MO); Moritz 44 (BM). Dist. Fed.: Caracas, La Florida, A.H.G. Alston 5446 (BM, F, S). Also Lara and Miranda fide Austin (1982b).

COSTA RICA. Nicoya, A. Tonduz 13679 (BM, K, P); San José, San Ignacio de Acosta, Khan et al. 257 (BM); B. Hammel 18682 (F, MO).

NICARAGUA. Matagalpa, P.P. Moreno 25101 (BM), 25082 (BM); Esteli, Pueblo Nuevo, L.O. Williams & A. Molina 42410 (BM, F).

HONDURAS. A. Molina & A.R. Molina 34212 (MO).

EL SALVADOR. G. Davidse et al. 37458 (BM, LAGU, MO).

GUATEMALA. Santa Rosa, Heyde & Lux 4024 (BM, K).

MEXICO. Baja California Sur: La Paz, J.I. Calzada 25226 (K, MEXU). Chiapas: D.E. Breedlove 40603 (MO). Chihuahua: P. Tenorio et al. 10070 (MO). Est. México & Dist. Fed.: Valle de México, E. Bourgeau 1265 p.p. (K); Temascaltepec, G.B. Hinton 8591 (K). Guanajuato: NE de Gavia, J. Rzedowski 40931a (IEB). Guerrero: Atoyac, G.B. Hinton 10898 (K); Montes de Oca, Vallecitos, G.B. Hinton 11716 (GBH, K); Petatlán, E. Langlassé 629 (K, P). Jalisco: R. McVaugh 24625 (MICH). Michoacán: Arteteaga, E. Carranza & V.W. Steinmann 6291 (IEB). Oaxaca: Santa María Chimalapa, S. Maya 2195 (MEXU). Querétaro: Pinal de Amoles, Escanelilla, S. Zamudio 5847 (IEB). Sinaloa: San Ignacio, Ajoya, J. González Ortega 51 (K). Sonora: Algodones, Río Mayo, H.S. Gentry 1682 (IEB, K, MO); A.L. Reina-G et al. 2001-656 (ARIZ). Veracruz: Catemaco, La Victoria, A. Bourg 182 (IEB); Emiliana Zapata, Ranchito Nuevo, R.A. Pedraza & H. Perales 322 (IEB).

LESSER ANTILLES. Guadeloupe: Stehlé 202 (P) - recorded as introduced.

Notes.

A rather fleshy plant with a blue, lobed corolla limb, white tube and, usually, soft spines on the stem. The ripe fruit is held on a recurved peduncle. Dried specimens are superficially very similar to Ipomoea tricolor with a blue corolla, white-margined sepals and similar divaricating pedicels but can be distinguished by the sericeous corolla buds and different sepals.

NGS sequencing of nuclear genes places this species in the Calonyction Clade, something suggested by the fleshy spines on the stem. ITS, however, places it in a clade closer to Ipomoea mirandina and its allies.

• Species 271-274 form the small but distinctive Calonyction Clade which consists of night flowering species with white or pale lilac hypocrateriform corollas and often awned sepals. The pollen is also distinct in having blunt gemmiform spines (Figure 10D ) although similar spines occur rarely elsewhere in Ipomoea .

Figures

Figure 10. Pollen of Ipomoea species. A I. triloba (D'Arcy 317) B I. cryptica (Steinbach 6311) C I. purpurea (Parada & Rojas 2664) D I. alba (Wood et al. 27828) E I. dumosa (Hinton et al. 9479) F I. hederifolia (Queiroz 15975) G I. stans (Y. Mexia 275112) H I. suffulta (Pringle 4755). Photos by Robert Scotland.