Ipomoea suaveolens (M. Martens & Galeotti) Hemsl.

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

141. Ipomoea suaveolens (M. Martens & Galeotti) Hemsl. , Biol. Cent.-Amer., Bot. 2: 394. 1882. (Hemsley 1882: 394)

Convolvulus suaveolens M. Martens & Galeotti , Bull. Acad. Roy. Sci. Bruxelles 12: 261. 1845. (Martens and Galeotti 1845: 261). Type. MEXICO. Oaxaca, H. Galeotti 1376 (holotype BR000697274; isotypes BR, G, K, P).

Ipomoea rostrata A. Peter , Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien 4 (3a): 30. 1897 [pub. 1891]. (Peter 1891: 30. Type. GUATEMALA. Retaluleu, Bernouilli & Cario 1932 (lectotype GOET005708, designated by Staples et al. 2012: 675).

Ipomoea crinita Brandegee , Zoë 5 (10): 216. 1905. (Brandegee 1905: 216). Type. MEXICO. Sinaloa, Culiacán, T.S. Brandegee s.n. (holotype UC105119, isotypes GH, NY, US).

Ipomoea ursina Brandegee , Univ. Calif. Publ. Bot. 4 (19): 382. 1913. (Brandegee 1913: 382). Type. MEXICO. Veracruz: Baños de Carrizal, C.A. Purpus 6240 (holotype UC167862, isotypes BM, F, GH, MO, NY, US).

Type.

Based on Convolvulus suaveolens M. Martens & Galeotti

Description.

Perennial night-flowering liana to 5 m, stems relatively stout, woody below, bristly white-pilose, latex white. Leaves petiolate, 3-12 × 3-8.5 cm, ovate, acute to shortly acuminate, shallowly cordate to truncate, occasionally 3-lobed, thinly hispid-pilose on both surfaces, eventually somewhat glabrescent, abaxially paler; petioles 1.5-5.5 cm, pilose. Inflorescence of long-pedunculate, sometimes leafy, many-flowered, compound cymes; peduncles 5-14 cm, hispid-pilose; lower bracteoles foliose, 10 × 2 mm, lanceolate; upper bracteoles 2 mm, filiform, caducous; secondary peduncles 1-1.5 cm; tertiary peduncles c. 5 mm; pedicels 8-14 mm; sepals slightly unequal, outer 5-8 × 3 mm, oblong-ovate to elliptic, obtuse, convex, densely hispid-pilose, especially near margins, inner 7-8 × 4 mm, obovate, with prominent broad, glabrous, scarious margins; corolla 5-7 cm long, narrowly funnel-shaped above a subcylindrical basal tube, white (night flowering), glabrous, limb c. 4 cm diam., unlobed. Capsules 10-12 mm long, conical, rostrate with persistent style, glabrous; seeds 6-9 mm, glabrous apart from long deciduous marginal hairs.

Distribution.

Deciduous dry forest and thorn scrub on mountains of Central America and southwestern Mexico, 0-1900 m.

EL SALVADOR. Ahuachapán, J.M. Rosales 968 (BM, LAGU); ibid., T. Croat 42098 (MO).

GUATEMALA. Huehuetenango, M. Véliz et al. 99.7619 (MEXU, MO).

MEXICO. Chiapas: Berriozábal, D.E. Breedlove 20393 (MO); Venustiano Carranza, Soyatitán, A. Shilom Ton 3129 (F); Teopisca, H. Mejia & A. Luna 754 (IEB); Yautepec, D. López 288 (IEB). Guerrero: Eduardo Neri, La Yesera, J.C. Soto 1092 (MEXU); O. Tenorio et al. 1263 (MO); J.N. Rose et al. 9339 (US). Nayarit: Tuxpan, Microondas Peñitas, R. Ramírez-Delgadillo et al. 7404 (IEB). Oaxaca: Juchitán, C. Gallardo-H. & E. Pérez-G 1515 (MO). Sinaloa: E. Guizar 3319 (MEXU); Los Labrados, Y. Mexia 913 (BM, F, MO). Veracruz: Apazapan, Baños del Carrizal, C.A. Purpus 6240 (F, MO).

Notes. Records from Costa Rica, for example B.E. Hammel & I. Pérez 24994 (CR, MO) appear to be all errors for white-flowered forms of Ipomoea batatoides .

Distinguished by the stiff, spreading white hairs of the calyx and stems combined with the narrow white corolla, which is funnel-shaped above a long basal cylindrical tube. The peduncles are often long and the sepals very short, often c. 5 mm long.

Some specimens have hirsute stems but glabrous sepals and may be intermediate with I. pseudoracemosa or I. proxima , such as J.C. Soto Nuñez 9877 (MEXU), S. Valencia Avalos 1004 (MEXU) and Monroy de la Rosa 220 (MEXU) all from Guerrero. Breedlove 27392 (MO) lacks corollas but appears to be intermediate with Ipomoea batatoides .