Ipomoea cryptica

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

233. Ipomoea cryptica J.R.I. Wood & Scotland, Kew Bull. 70 (31): 92. 2015. (Wood et al. 2015: 92)

Ipomoea peckoltii var. major Meisn. in Martius et al. , Fl. Brasil. 7: 268. 1869. (Meisner 1869: 268). Type. BRAZIL. [Amazonas], ad oram meriodionalem flum. Amazonum, ad ostium flum. Solimoes, R. Spruce 1702 (holotype B?†, isotypes BM, K000612858, P).

Type.

BOLIVIA. Santa Cruz, Prov. Ichilo, 2-10 km from Buenavista along road to Huaytu, J.R.I. Wood & D. Soto 27955 (holotype USZ, isotypes K, LPB, OXF).

Description.

Twining perennial or liana to 5 m, stems glabrous. Leaves petiolate, ovate-deltoid, mostly 4-10 × 2-7.5 cm, base broadly cordate to subhastate, the auricles usually acute, sometimes rounded, apex acuminate to an obtuse and mucronate apex, both surfaces glabrous; petiole 1-5 cm, glabrous. Inflorescence of rather dense, 3-15-flowered, axillary, pedunculate cymes; peduncles 5-12 cm, glabrous; bracteoles ovate, acute, c. 2 mm long, caducous; secondary peduncles and pedicels short, 5-8(-13) mm, glabrous; sepals very unequal, glabrous, outer 1-3 mm long, suborbicular to elliptic, the margins scarious, inner 7-8 mm, broadly elliptic, rounded, margins broad, scarious; corolla 3.5-6 cm long, glabrous, funnel-shaped, tube lilac, limb unlobed, 3.5-4 cm diam., pink. Capsules 10-11 × 6-8 mm, ellipsoid, glabrous, the style persistent as a long awn about as long as the capsule; seeds 6 × 3 mm, blackish with long white marginal hairs c. 6 mm long.

Illustration.

Figures 7C , 10B , 110D , 120 .

Distribution.

Locally common in NE Bolivia and present also in Colombia, Peru and Brazil, possibly frequent in the SW Amazonian region. In Bolivia it is a species of lowland forest, forest relics and drainage dykes, growing usually in seasonally flooded places.

BRAZIL. Amazonas: Rio Juruá [ Yarúa] near Independencia, B.A. Krukoff 4582 (BM, NY, S).

BOLIVIA. Beni: Yacuma/ Ballivián, Est. Biológica de Beni, E. Rivero 152 (CTES, LPB, SP, USZ); Cercado, Laguna Limonsin, D. Soto et al. 1331 (OXF, USZ); Marbán, Casarabe, F. de la Puente 3572 (CIP, FTG); Moxos, G.A. Parada et al. 1537 (OXF, MO, USZ); Laguna Mauso, D. Soto et al. 1487 (USZ). La Paz: Larecaja, Guanay, H. Rusby 1987 (BM, K, NY, MICH, P, US). Santa Cruz: Germán Busch, Rincón del Tigre-La Gaiba, J.R.I. Wood et al. 28721 (K, LPB, UZ); Ichilo, Río Surutú, J. Steinbach 6311 (A, K); Buenavista to Huaytu, J.R.I. Wood & D. Soto 27955 (OXF, K, LPB, USZ); San Carlos, M. Martinez 2 (OXF, USZ); Santiesteban, between Montero and Okinawa, J.R.I. Wood & D. Soto 27952 (OXF, K, LPB, USZ); Sara, Buenavista to Portachuelo, J.R.I. Wood & D. Soto 27961 (OXF, K, LPB, USZ).

PERU. Loreto: Florida, Río Putumayo, at mouth of Río Zubineta, G. Klug 2049 (BM, S); left bank of Río Marañon above Rancho Indiana, Y. Mexia 6408 (BM, S).

COLOMBIA. Guainía: Colombian side of Río Orinoco, near Río Atabapo, J.J. Wurdack & L.S. Adderley 42789 (P).

Notes.

This species is very similar morphologically to glabrous-leaved forms of Ipomoea squamosa and I. anisomeres because of the short outer sepals but molecular studies indicate there is no close relationship. However, like both these species I. cryptica has a congested, many-flowered inflorescence and sepals with distinct scarious margins. From Ipomoea squamosa it is best separated by the very short outer sepal (2-3 mm long) and the completely glabrous stem, petioles and leaves; I. squamosa is usually at least thinly pubescent at the base or near the margins of the leaves in South American specimens. From I. anisomeres it is best distinguished by the much shorter pink corollas and the seeds with long white marginal hairs.

According to our molecular studies ( Muñoz-Rodríguez et al. 2019) this species is sister to the whole Batatas Clade.

••• Clade B (species 234-338) comprises species mostly from Mexico and surrounding countries although it includes quite a few South American species. Like Clade A, there is no obvious morphological feature common to the whole clade. Species may be perennial or annual but there are no truly woody plants. Clade B divides into two large but morphologically ill-defined clades, Clade B1 (species 234-289) and Clade B2 (species 290-337). Within both B1 and B2, there are several small clades which are well defined morphologically. These are indicated in the text.

• Species 234-253 comprise the Pharbitis Clade but we have no molecular sequence data for I. spruceana , I. calcicola , I. zacatecana , I. mairetii , I. invicta , I. lambii and I. laeta so their inclusion must be regarded as provisional.

Annual or perennial herbs, stems twining, often robust. Leaves entire or 3-5-lobed, commonly variable within the same species. Flowers in pedunculate axillary cymes (occasionally solitary), often reduced to bracteolate heads; pedicels characteristically shorter than peduncles and sometimes very short; bracteoles usually prominent, persistent and occasionally ( I. neurocephala ) forming an involucre; sepals herbaceous, often elongate and accrescent in fruit, in some species prominently hirsute with stiff spreading hairs; corolla often large and showy, blue, pink or purple, rarely white; anthers included (except I. jamaicensis and I. ampullacea ); stigma typically 3-lobed. The seeds are minutely pubescent or tomentellous but never pilose or lanate. The decisive character in the traditional circumscription of this group lies in the trilocular ovary and capsule, which is 6-seeded. However, this character is not present in all species included in this clade, such as I. neurocephala and I. magnifolia although molecular sequencing shows that they belong.

Species that probably belong to this clade can be separated by the following key.

Figures

Figure 7. Sepals of Ipomoea species. A I. meyeri B I. ternifolia C I. cryptica D I. heterodoxa E I. sericosepala F I. splendor-sylvae G I. squamisepala H I. trifida. Photographs of A (Anderson 1895) B (Pringle 4439) C (Soto et al. 1331) E (Wood & Soto 27550) F (Wilkin 472) and H (Smith 1570) by John Baker; D (Wallnoefer 9506) by John Wood; G (Mendoza 4902) by Moises Mendoza.

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.

Figure 110. Photographs of Ipomoea species. A I. grandifolia B I. lacunosa C I. littoralis D I. cryptica E, F I. batatas. A, D-F John Wood B Steven Turner C Rick Miller.

Figure 120. Ipomoea cryptica. A habit B outer sepal C inner sepal D corolla opened out to show stamens E ovary and style. Drawn by Rosemary Wise from Parada et al. 1537.