IPOMOEA PURPUREA

Family:- CONVOLVULACEAE/Sect. IPOMOEA

Common Names:- Morning glory

Synonyms:- Convolvuloides purpurea, Convolvulus mutabilis, Convolvulus

purpureus, Diatrema purpurea, Pharbitis purpurea.

Meaning:- Ipomoea (Gr) Resembling a worm (reference to the twining stems).

Purpurea (L) Reddish-purple.

General description:- Usually annual.

Stems:-

1) Long procumbent or climbing.

Leaves:-

1) Lamina, 4-16 cm, ovate or broadly ovate, usually entire, acuminate, cordate.

Flowers:-

1) Inflorescences, sometimes 1-flowered.

2) Sepals, 10-16 mm, lanceolate, gradually tapering from near the base, uniformly

finely pubescent and with conspicuous bristles below.

3) Corolla 40-60 mm, magenta usually fading to pink.

Key features:-

1) Sepals finely pubescent and also with long bristles near the base.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Naturalised along hedgerows, fences, and in scrub, or on cultivated or

waste ground.0-800 m.

Distribution:- Limited distribution throughout the Mediterranean. Previously

unrecorded from Crete. Discovered by Steve Lenton (July 2016) on the Lassithi

Plateau, growing in various locations.

Flowering time:- July-Sept.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton