Ipomoea cairica (L.) Sweet

Mile a minute vine (en), Ipomée (fr)

Species

Angiosperms > Solanales > Convolvulaceae > Ipomoea

Characteristics

A glabrous twiner (or occasionally prostrate). Root tuberous. Stems more or less tuberculate or smooth. Leaves ovate to orbicular in outline, 3-10 by 3-10 cm, palmately cut to the base into 5 lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate to ovate or elliptic, basally and apically acuminate entire segments with acute or obtusish mucronulate apex; the basal pair of segments usually again lobed or parted; petiole 2-6 cm, often with pseudo-stipules (small leaves of the axillary shoot) at its base. Inflorescences axillary; peduncle ½-7 cm, cymosely one-to few-flowered; pedicels 12-20 mm; bracts minute. Sepals glabrous, subequal or the exterior ones slightly shorter, 4-6½ mm, often minutely tuberculate without, with pellucid dots and with pale, scarious margins; outer ones ovate, obtuse to acutish, mucronulate, inner ones broader, obtuse, mucronulate. Corolla funnel-shaped, 4½-6 cm long, white with a purplish-red tinge on both surfaces and purplish-red towards the base only on the inner surface, occasionally entirely white. Stamens and style included; filaments pilose at the base. Ovary glabrous. Capsule subglobose, 10-12 mm high, smooth, 2-celled, 4-valved. Seeds 4 or less, ca 5-6 mm long, densely short-tomentose and with long silky hairs along the edges.
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Perennial, with tuberous rootstock, glabrous or nearly so; stems twining or prostrate, smooth or muriculate, up to 1.8 m. long, glabrous, or villous at the nodes.. Leaf-blade ovate to orbicular in outline, palmately divided to the base into 5–7 lobes, 3–10 cm. long and wide; lobes lanceolate to ovate or elliptic, acute or obtuse and mucronulate at the apex, up to 4 cm. long and 1.6 cm. wide; outer lobes often bifid; petiole 2–6 cm. long; pseudo-stipules often present.. Inflorescences lax; peduncle 0.5–8 cm. long, 1–many-flowered, branched; pedicels 1.2–3 cm. long.. Sepals glabrous, sometimes verruculose, ovate, 4–6.5 mm. long, 2.5–5 mm. wide, the outer ones slightly shorter, obtuse to acute, mucronulate, the edges membranous.. Corolla purple, redor white with purple centre and purple tinge on outside of the limb or rarely entirely white, funnel-shaped, (3–)4.5–6 cm. long.. Capsule subglobose, 1–1.2 cm. in diameter, glabrous.. Seeds subglobose or ovoid, 4.2–6 mm. long, blackish, densely short-tomentose and also with long silky hairs along the edges.
Herbs perennial, twining, with a tuberous root; axial parts ?glabrous. Stems to 5 m, thinly angular, ± tuberculate or smooth. Petiole 2-8 cm, base with leafy pseudostipules; leaf blade palmately 5-parted to base; lobes entire or minutely undulate, apex acute or obtuse, mucronulate, basal pair usually again lobed or parted; middle lobe larger, ovate, ovate-lanceolate, or elliptic, (2.5-)4-5 X (0.5-)2-2.5 cm. Inflorescences 1-or several flowered; peduncle 2-8 cm; bracts and bracteoles early deciduous, squamiform, small. Pedicel 0.5-2 cm, sometimes verruculose. Sepals unequal; outer 2 sepals 4-6.5 mm; inner ones 5-9 mm, glabrous, abaxially ± verruculose, margin paler, scarious. Corolla pink, purple, or reddish purple, with a darker center, rarely white, funnelform, (2.5-)5-7 cm. Stamens included, unequal. Ovary glabrous. Stigma 2-lobed. Capsule ± globose, ca. 1 cm. Seeds black, ca. 5 mm, densely tomentose, margin with longer hairs. 2n = 30*.
Glabrous perennial with tuberous root. Stems up to 1.8 m long, smooth or tuberculate, twining or rarely prostrate. Leaves ovate to orbicular in outline, 30-100 mm wide, deeply palmately dissected into 5-7 lanceolate to ovate-elliptic, mucronulate segments; basal lobes often bifid in 5-lobed leaves; petiole 20-60 mm long, usually with pseudostipules resembling leaves but smaller. Peduncles 1-to few-flowered, 5-70 mm long; bracteoles minute; pedicels 12-20 mm long. Sepals subequal, subovate, mucronulate, green with pellucid dots and pale scarious margins; often minutely tuberculate outside, 4-7 mm long. Corolla broadly funnel-shaped, 30-60 mm long, 40-60 mm wide, tube contracted near base, mauve, paler outside and with darker magenta centre (rarely entirely white). Capsule subglobose, 8-12 mm in diameter. Seeds 5-6 mm long, blackish, subglobose, tomentose and with white up to 9 mm long hairs along edges. Flowering time throughout the year.
An annual climbing herb. It climbs to 5 m high. The stems are slender and branching. It keeps growing from year to year from a large tuberous rootstock. The stems can be twining or growing along the ground. These can be 1.8 m long. The leaves are green with lobes divided like fingers on a hand. The leaves are 5-12 cm across and there are 5-7 lobes. These are separate and only slightly united at the base. The leaflets are 3-6 cm long by 1-3 cm wide. They are on a stalk 2-6 cm long. Often the lowest lobe has a side lobe. The leafy structures (stipules) at the base of the leaf are also divided like fingers on a hand. The flowers are funnel shaped and purple to red and white. They have a purple centre. They are 5-6 cm long. Flowers can either be single or up to 5 on a stalk. The fruit is a round capsule. It is 1.2 cm wide. It is papery brown. There are several small black hairy seeds.
Slender, fibrous-rooted, glabrous, perennial, climbing or scrambling herb. Stems ribbed, often becoming tuberculate. Lvs on slender petioles to 5 cm long, spreading. Lamina 2.5-7 cm long, palmately 5-7-lobed almost to base; lobes lanceolate, obtuse to subacute or mucronate, entire or outer again lobed; terminal lobe larger. Infl. 1-2-(4)-flowered; peduncles to 5 cm long, ± erect. Pedicels to c. 3 cm long. Sepals 6-10 mm long, ovate, obtuse or subacute. Corolla 4.5-6 × 5-8 cm, funnelform, mauve with darker throat, very rarely white. Stamens included. Capsule 12 mm diam., globose-ovoid. Seeds 2-4, hairy until mature, often becoming glabrous after dehiscence.
Leaf lamina ovate to circular in outline, palmately divided to the base into 5–7 lobes, 3×10 cm. long and wide; lobes lanceolate to ovate, elliptic or somewhat oblanceolate, acute or obtuse and mucronulate at the apex, up to 5 × 1·6 cm.; outer lobes often bifid; petiole 2–6 cm. long, usually pseudostipulate by small leaves of developing or suppressed axillary shoots; pseudo-stipules resembling the leaves but smaller.
Twining or prostrate perennial herb. Leaves palmately divided into 5-7 lobes*; lobes lanceolate to ovate, elliptic or somewhat oblanceolate. Flowers solitary or in few-flowered cymes. Sepals 4.0-6.5 mm long, sometimes verruculose. Corolla 45-60 mm long. Flowers purple, red or white with purple centre and purple tinge on outside of limb or rarely entirely white.
Corolla broadly funnel-shaped, purple, red or white with purple centre and purple tinge on outside of the limb or rarely entirely white, 4·5–6 cm. long, (2·3–3 cm. long in var. indica Hall. f.).
Sepals subequal, ovate, 4–6·5 mm. long, obtuse to acute, mucronulate, glabrous, sometimes verruculose, the edges membranous, outer ones slightly shorter.
Perennial climber to 3 m. Leaves palmatisect with 5-7, lanceolate segments. Flowers mauve, sepals glabrous, obtuse.
Inflorescences lax, 1-many-flowered; peduncle 0·5–8 cm. long, branched; pedicels 1·2–3 cm. long; bracteoles minute.
Seeds subglobose or ovoid, blackish, densely short-tomentose and also with long silky hairs along the edges.
Stems twining or prostrate, smooth or muriculate, up to 2 m. long, glabrous or villous at the nodes.
Funnel-shaped flowers pale or reddish-purple 11/2-2 in. long.
Perennial from a tuberous rootstock, glabrous or nearly so.
A slender twiner with glabrous, sometimes warted stems
Capsule subglobose, glabrous.
Life form perennial
Growth form herb
Growth support climber
Foliage retention evergreen
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 3.0
Root system fibrous-root
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color
Blooming months -
Fruit color -
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway c3

Environment

It grows in tropical and warm temperate places. It will grow on most well drained soils. It can grow on the edges of mangroves. It grows in woodland between 230-1,600 m above sea level in Africa. It suits hardiness zones 9-12.
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Seashores, forest-clearings, grassland and damp sites. Forest clearings, lake shores, swampy grassland, hedges, waste and cultivated ground, at elevations from 700-2,000 metres.
Cultivated; wild in waste places, thickets, hedges, etc.
Light -
Soil humidity 7-9
Soil texture -
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 9-12

Usage

The tubers can be used as food. They must be cooked. They are bitter. Starch is extracted from them. CAUTION: They may be slightly cancer causing The leaves are collected and wilted in the sun then cooked either alone or with other vegetables.
Uses animal food environmental use fiber material medicinal oil poison
Edible leaves roots stems tubers
Therapeutic use Antioxidants (aerial part), Anti-bacterial agents (flower), Antifungal agents (leaf), Exanthema (leaf), Insecticides (leaf), Lactation (leaf), Anemia, hemolytic (seed), Cathartics (seed), Cyanogenetic (unspecified), Analgesics (unspecified), Antifungal agents (unspecified), Antioxidants (unspecified), Antiparasitic agents (unspecified), Cathartics (unspecified), Insecticides (whole plant)
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Plants are grown from seed. It can be grown using cuttings.
Mode cuttings seedlings
Germination duration (days) -
Germination temperacture (C°) -
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Images

Habit

Ipomoea cairica habit picture by Emma Franklin (cc-by-sa)
Ipomoea cairica habit picture by Emma Franklin (cc-by-sa)
Ipomoea cairica habit picture by Sylvain Piry (cc-by-sa)

Leaf

Ipomoea cairica leaf picture by Flor Alex (cc-by-sa)
Ipomoea cairica leaf picture by Emma Franklin (cc-by-sa)
Ipomoea cairica leaf picture by Sylvain Piry (cc-by-sa)

Flower

Ipomoea cairica flower picture by Emma Franklin (cc-by-sa)
Ipomoea cairica flower picture by Mike Egan (cc-by-sa)
Ipomoea cairica flower picture by Allison Kaj (cc-by-sa)

Fruit

Ipomoea cairica fruit picture by cabana carlos manuel (cc-by-sa)
Ipomoea cairica fruit picture by Henrique (cc-by-sa)
Ipomoea cairica fruit picture by Trap Hers (cc-by-sa)

Distribution

Ipomoea cairica world distribution map, present in Angola, Anguilla, Argentina, Australia, Benin, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, Burkina Faso, Bangladesh, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Brazil, Barbados, Botswana, China, Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Congo, Colombia, Cabo Verde, Cuba, Cayman Islands, Ecuador, Egypt, Eritrea, Spain, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guadeloupe, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Grenada, Guyana, Honduras, Indonesia, India, Iceland, Israel, Kenya, Cambodia, Lebanon, Liberia, Saint Lucia, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Malta, Myanmar, Mozambique, Mauritania, Mauritius, Malawi, Malaysia, Nigeria, Niue, Nepal, New Zealand, Oman, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Réunion, Sudan, Senegal, Singapore, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sao Tome and Principe, eSwatini, Seychelles, Togo, Thailand, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Taiwan, Province of China, Tanzania, United Republic of, Uganda, Uruguay, United States of America, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), Viet Nam, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe

Conservation status

Ipomoea cairica threat status: Least Concern

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:1184567-2
WFO ID wfo-0001298154
COL ID 3PVRF
BDTFX ID 82702
INPN ID 445574
Wikipedia (EN) Link
Wikipedia (FR) Link

Synonyms

Ipomoea stipulata Convolvulus lupulifolia Exocroa egyptiaca Ipomoea digitifolia Ipomoea jacquinii Batatas pulchella Convolvulus vittatus Ipomoea bouvetii Convolvulus quinquelobus Ipomoea buaralap Ipomoea frutescens Ipomoea stipulacea f. pluriflora Ipomoea palmata Convolvulus cairicus Convolvulus tuberculatus Ipomoea pentaphylla Ipomoea cavanillesii Convolvulus cavanillesii Batatas cavanillesii Convolvulus limphaticus Ipomoea funaria Convolvulus bellus Ipomoea stipulacea Ipomoea senegalensis Batatas senegalensis Ipomoea vesiculosa Ipomoea tuberculata Ipomoea tuberculosa Ipomoea rosea var. pluripartita Ipomoea caerica var. obtusata Ipomoea tuberculata var. abbreviata Ipomoea cairica var. semine-glabra Ipomoea cairica

Lower taxons

Ipomoea cairica var. cairica Ipomoea cairica var. gracillima Ipomoea cairica var. indica