Ipomoea altoamazonica

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

411. Ipomoea altoamazonica J.R.I. Wood & Scotland, Kew. Bull. 72 (10): 4. 2017. (Wood and Scotland 2017b: 4)

Type.

PERU. Cusco, Paucartambo, Chontachaca a Pillahuata, 700 m, P. Nuñez 8087 (holotype MO3518513, isotype CUZ19924).

Description.

Twining perennial herb 1-2 m high, growing over shrubs; stems pilose. Leaves petiolate, 7-11 × 7-9.5 cm, 3-lobed to half way or slightly less, base cordate with rounded auricles, lobes ovate, apex shortly acuminate and mucronate, both surfaces densely pubescent with somewhat asperous long hairs; petioles 4-12 cm, pilose. Inflorescence of up to 5-flowered axillary cymes; peduncles 1.3-5.3 cm, pilose; bracteoles 3-11 × 0.5-1 mm, filiform to linear, pilose; secondary peduncles (if present) 8-10 mm; pedicels 22-33 mm, pilose; sepals unequal, outer 14-17 × 5-6 mm, oblong-ovate, obtuse, abaxially covered in scattered long white hairs mixed with soft spines, both 3-4 mm long, inner sepals 11-13 × 4-5 mm, ovate, mucronate, glabrous and spineless, margins scarious; corolla c. 5 cm long, funnel-shaped, white, glabrous; limb c. 4 cm diam. Capsules and seeds not seen.

Illustration.

Figure 201 .

Distribution.

A plant of lowland forest areas, endemic to the upper Amazon watershed on the borders of Peru and Brazil.

BRAZIL. Acre: Marechal Thaumaturgo, basin of Rio Jurúa, D.C. Daly et al. 10707 (ARIZ). PERU. Cusco: Convención, Echarate, P. Nuñez et al. 19679 (CUZ,?US). Huancavelica: Quintobamba, O. Tovar 4143 (USM). Ucayali: J. Schunke V. & J.G. Graham 15012 (ARIZ).

Note.

Clearly part of a complex of species with Ipomoea crinicalyx , I. silvicola and I. echinocalyx but is immediately distinguished from these by the 3-lobed leaves. Additionally the dense pilose indumentum and white flowers distinguish it from I. crinicalyx , and the pedunculate cymes from I. silvicola and I. echinocalyx .

Figures

Figure 201. Ipomoea altoamazonica. A habit B adaxial leaf surface C abaxial leaf surface D outer sepal E middle sepal F inner sepal. Drawn by Rosemary Wise A from D. C. Daly et al. 10707; B, C from D. C. Daly et al. 15012; D-F from Percy Nunez 887.