Obscure Morning Glory

Gebel Elba.

Southeast Egypt, tropical Africa, Asia, Madagascar, Mascarene, Seychelles, China, Taiwan, Fiji, Auastralia

Herbs twining; axial parts glabrous, spreading pubescent, or almost woolly. Stems thinly angular, 1-2 m. Petiole 1.5-3.5 cm; leaf blade cordate-circular or ovate, occasionally reniform, 2-8 X 1.6-8 cm, glabrous or sparsely pilose, base cordate, margin entire or minutely undulate, apex attenuate, acute. Inflorescences 1-3-flowered; peduncle almost filiform, 1.4-4 cm; bracts subulate, ca. 1.5 mm. Pedicel 0.8-2 cm, subglabrous, thickened and recurved in fruit distally. Sepals reflexed in fruit, elliptic-ovate, subequal, 4-5 mm, glabrous or ± pubescent, mucronulate, outer ones whitish margined. Corolla white or pale yellow, with darker midpetaline bands and a purple center, funnelform, 2-2.5 cm. Stamens included; filaments very unequal. Pistil included; ovary glabrous. Stigma 2-lobed. Capsule conical-ovoid or ± globose, 6-8 mm in diam., apiculate. Seeds black-brown, 4-5 mm, densely gray-brown tomentellous. 2n = 30.

Nepal (E), Cambodia, China, India, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Guinea, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, Africa, Austrilia, Pacific island

Guangdong, Hainan (Nanhai Zhudao), Taiwan, Yunnan [Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Guinea, ?Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam; E Africa, N Australia, Pacific Islands].

100 - 600 M.

Weedy in thickets, open forests, sandy places, seashores; 0-1600 m.

Convolvulus obscurus Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. ed. 2., 2: 220. 1762; Ipomoea insuavis Blume; I. luteola R. Brown.

Ipomoea obscura (L.) Ker-Gawler

Ipomoea obscura (L.) Ker-Gawler, Bot. Reg., 3:239, 1817.—F. Brown, Flora, 240, 1935.

Convolvulus obscurus L., Sp. Pl., ed. 2, 220, 1762.

Slender twiner, almost glabrous to notably pilose; leaves broadly cordate, acuminate, up to 5 cm in diameter, with broad rounded basal sinus, margins subentire to finely crenulate, more or less ciliate, petioles slender, 2–6.5 cm long; flowers 1-several in pedunculate cymes, in each cyme one flower open at a time, peduncles 2–5 (or even 10) cm long, pedicels 1–1.5 cm, somewhat dilated upward; sepals 4–6 mm long, elliptic or elliptic ovate to oval or, in fruit, orbicular, the inner broader, mucronate; corolla campanulate-funnelform, flaring, 1.5–2 cm long, 1.5–2.5 cm broad, white or cream to sulfur-yellow, with dark purple center; stamens and pistil included; capsule subglobose, to 1 cm long, beaked, exserted from calyx, firm; seed 2.5 × 3.5 mm, plump, dark brown, sericeous tomentose.

SPECIMEN SEEN.—Nukuhiva I.: Eastern Taiohae, 0.5 km W old Fort Collet, 1–3 m, Decker 2103 (US, BISH).

Uahuka I.: 10 m, sand dunes Hane Village, yard of hospital, common, Decker 1961 (Fo).

Hivaoa I.: Miti taua’o’o, hill on SW corner of Puamau Bay, 100 ft [30–50 m], here common, Decker 640 (US, P, Fo, BISH, UC); central Puamau valley, 5 m, waste places in uncleaned plantation, common, Decker 820 (US, P, Fo, BISH); western Puamau, 250 ft [70–90 m], ravine in coconut plantation in upper paddock, occasional, Decker 863 (US, P); central Puamau, 700 ft [300–400 m], mixed subsistence and copra plantation, mainly of trees, occasional, Decker 1095 (US, P, UC).

Ipomoea obscura, the obscure morning glory or small white morning glory, is a species of the genus Ipomoea. It is native to parts of Africa, Asia, and certain Pacific Islands, and it is present in other areas as an introduced species.

The seed of this plant is toxic if ingested; however, the leaves can be cooked and eaten.