Ipomoea nil (L.) Roth, Convolvulaceae

Click on an image for links to BIGGER PICTURES

Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Threat only at high elevations?  no

Other Latin names:  Convolvulus nil L.

Common name(s): [more details]

English: blue morning glory

French: liseron bleu

Habit:  vine

Description:  "Annual or sometimes short-lived perennial, with twining to decumbent-creeping, slender, somewhat angular stems 2-5 m long; herbage sparsely to moderately hirsute with tawny, simple hairs 1-4 mm long, hairs spreading to slightly retrorse; leaf blades suborbicular, entire to narrowly and shallowly to moderately 3-lobed, 3-18 cm long, 3-20 cm wide, cordate with narrow sinus, acute to short-acuminate at apex and tips of lateral lobes, auricles rounded and entire, dark green, sparsely subappressed-hirsute on upper surface, much paler and more densely hirsute beneath; inflorescence cymose on peduncles 1-15 cm long, retrorsely hirsute; bracts linear to lanceolate, 5-11 mm long; flowers 1 to several on each peduncle; sepals linear, 15-30 mm long, nearly equal, bases ovate, 2.5-3 mm wide, gradually narrowing into linear terminal blade, densely hirsute; corolla funnelform, 2.5-6 cm long, pale blue to deep blue, throat and tube gradually ampliate, paler than limb, this 3-5 cm across, glabrous without; stamens subequal, the shorter 12-40 mm long, the longer 15-45 mm long, conspicuously glandular-hirsute toward base; style 15-30 mm long, slender; stigma shallowly bilobed, granular; capsules ovoid to depressed-subglobose, 7-8 mm high, 8-12 mm thick, 3-6-seeded; seeds 4.5-6 mm long, black or brown, sparsely to densely grayish-puberulent, or sometimes nearly glabrous"  (Wiggins & Porter, 1971; pp. 378-379).

Habitat/ecology:  "A pantropical species" (Wiggins & Porter, 1971; pp. 378-379). Arid lowlands in the Galápagos Islands (McMullen, 1999; p. 316).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Pantropic (GRIN).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced invasive cultivated	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 41) Vouchers cited: MacKee 21044, MacKee 43978 Spontané

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Honduras Honduras	Honduras (Republic of)		Holm, Leroy/Pancho, Juan V./Herberger, James P./Plucknett, Donald L. (1979) (p. 195)
Mexico Mexico	Mexico (United Mexican States)		Holm, Leroy/Pancho, Juan V./Herberger, James P./Plucknett, Donald L. (1979) (p. 195)

Indian Ocean
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia (Indian Ocean offshore islands) Christmas Island Group	Christmas Island	introduced invasive	Swarbrick, J. T. (1997) (p. 116)

Additional information:  Additional online information about Ipomoea nil is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Taxonomic information about Ipomoea nil may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Heine, Heino. 1984. 13. Convolvulacées. In: Morat, Ph.. et H. S. MacKee. Flore de la Nouvelle-Calédonie et Dépendances. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris.

Holm, Leroy/Pancho, Juan V./Herberger, James P./Plucknett, Donald L. 1979. A geographical atlas of world weeds. John Wiley & Sons, New York. 391 pp.

MacKee, H. S. 1994. Catalogue des plantes introduites et cultivées en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 164 p.

McMullen, C. K. 1999. Flowering plants of the Galápagos. Comstock Pub. Assoc., Ithaca, N.Y. 370 p.

Swarbrick, J. T. 1997. Environmental weeds and exotic plants on Christmas Island, Indian Ocean: a report to Parks Australia. 101 pp. plus appendix.

Wiggins, I. L./Porter, D. M. 1971. Flora of the Galapágos Islands. Stanford University Press. 998 pp.