Ipomoea indica

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Cladus: Asterids
Cladus: Lamiids
Ordo: Solanales

Familia: Convolvulaceae
Tribus: Ipomoeeae
Genus: Ipomoea
Subgenus: I. subg. Ipomoea

Sectio: I. sect. Pharbitis
Series: I. ser. Heterophyllae
Species: Ipomoea indica
Name

Ipomoea indica (Burm.) Merr., Interpr. Herb. Amboin.: 445 (1917).
Synonyms

Basionym
Convolvulus indicus Burm., Auctuarium: 2 verso (1755).
Homotypic
Pharbitis indica (Burm.) Hagiw., Bot. & Zool. 6: 1238 (1938).
Heterotypic
Convolvulus roseus Mill., Gard. Dict. ed. 8: 18 (1768).
Convolvulus africanus Nicolson bis, Ess. Hist. Nat. S. Domingue: 260 (1776), orth. var.
Convolvulus acuminatus Vahl, Symb. Bot. 3: 26 (1794).
Ipomoea villosa Ruiz & Pav., Fl. Peruv. 2: 12 (1799).
Convolvulus bogotensis Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd., Enum. Pl.: 203 (1809).
Ipomoea congesta R.Br., Prodr. Fl. Nov. Holland.: 485 (1810).
Ipomoea mutabilis Lindl., Bot. Reg. 1: t. 39 (1815).
Ipomoea cathartica Poir. in J.B.A.M.de Lamarck, Encycl., Suppl. 4: 633 (1816).
Convolvulus cynanchifolius Roem. & Schult., Syst. Veg., ed. 15 bis 4: 301 (1819).
Convolvulus mollis Kunth in F.W.H.von Humboldt, A.J.A.Bonpland & C.S.Kunth, Nov. Gen. Sp. 3: 104 (1819), nom. illeg.
Ipomoea acuminata (Vahl) Roem. & Schult., Syst. Veg., ed. 15 bis 4: 228 (1819).
Convolvulus congestus (R.Br.) Spreng., Syst. Veg. 1: 601 (1824).
Convolvulus mutabilis (Lindl.) Spreng., Syst. Veg. 1: 593 (1824), nom. illeg.
Convolvulus portoricensis Spreng., Syst. Veg. 1: 595 (1824).
Convolvulus ruizii Spreng., Syst. Veg. 1: 594 (1824).
Convolvulus pudibundus Lindl., Bot. Reg. 12: t. 999 (1826).
Ipomoea amoena Blume, Bijdr.: 718 (1826).
Ipomoea pudibunda (Lindl.) Sweet, Hort. Brit.: 489 (1827).
Ipomoea bogotensis (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.) Sweet, Hort. Brit., ed. 2: 272 (1830).
Ipomoea punctata Macfad., Bot. Misc. 2: 116 (1831), nom. illeg.
Pharbitis insularis Choisy, Mém. Soc. Phys. Genève 6: 439 (1833 publ. 1834)[Conv. Or.: 57]
Ipomoea cataractae Endl., Prodr. Fl. Norfolk.: 53 (1833).
Ipomoea mollis (Kunth) G.Don, Gen. Hist. 4: 275 (1837).
Ipomoea portoricensis (Spreng.) G.Don, Gen. Hist. 4: 278 (1837).
Pharbitis mutabilis (Lindl.) Bojer, Hortus Maurit.: 227 (1837).
Pharbitis villosa (Ruiz & Pav.) G.Don, Gen. Hist. 4: 263 (1837).
Modesta mutabilis (Lindl.) Raf., Fl. Tellur. 4: 76 (1838).
Convolvulus amoenus (Blume) D.Dietr., Syn. Pl. 1: 670 (1839).
Ipomoea learii Paxton, Paxton's Mag. Bot. 6: t. 267 (1839).
Ipomoea insularis (Choisy) Steud., Nomencl. Bot., ed. 2, 1: 817 (1840).
Pharbitis learii (Paxton) Lindl., Edwards's Bot. Reg. 27: t. 56 (1841).
Ipomoea involucrata F.Dietr. ex Choisy in A.P.de Candolle, Prodr. 9: 394 (1845), not validly publ.
Ipomoea officinalis Poit. ex Choisy in A.P.de Candolle, Prodr. 9: 342 (1845), pro syn.
Pharbitis acuminata (Vahl) Choisy in A.P.de Candolle, Prodr. 9: 342 (1845).
Pharbitis acuminata var. congesta Choisy in A.P.de Candolle, Prodr. 9: 343 (1845).
Pharbitis bogotensis (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.) Choisy in A.P.de Candolle, Prodr. 9: 341 (1845).
Pharbitis cathartica (Poir.) Choisy in A.P.de Candolle, Prodr. 9: 342 (1845).
Pharbitis heterosepala Benth., Bot. Voy. Sulphur: 134 (1845).
Pharbitis medians Choisy in A.P.de Candolle, Prodr. 9: 343 (1845).
Pharbitis mollis (Kunth) Choisy in A.P.de Candolle, Prodr. 9: 342 (1845).
Pharbitis rosea Choisy in A.P.de Candolle, Prodr. 9: 342 (1845).
Pharbitis calycosa A.Rich. in R.de la Sagra, Hist. Fis. Cuba, Bot. 11: 128 (1850).
Ipomoea fastigiata Chapm., Fl. South. U.S.: 344 (1860), nom. illeg.
Ipomoea jamaicensis var. glabrata Griseb., Fl. Brit. W. I.: 474 (1862).
Ipomoea cathartica var. angustiloba Meisn. in C.F.P.von Martius & auct. suc. (eds.), Fl. Bras. 7: 225 (1869).
Ipomoea jamaicensis var. glabrata Meisn. in C.F.P.von Martius & auct. suc. (eds.), Fl. Bras. 7: 226 (1869), nom. illeg.
Ipomoea jamaicensis var. intermedia Meisn. in C.F.P.von Martius & auct. suc. (eds.), Fl. Bras. 7: 226 (1869).
Ipomoea jamaicensis var. sericea Meisn. in C.F.P.von Martius & auct. suc. (eds.), Fl. Bras. 7: 226 (1869).
Ipomoea medians (Choisy) Cordem., Fl. Réunion: 473 (1895).
Ipomoea villosa var. genuina Hallier f., Jahrb. Hamburg. Wiss. Anst. 16(Beih. 3): 53 (1898 publ. 1899), not validly publ.
Convolvulus bogotensis f. albiflorus Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 3(2): 212 (1898).
Convolvulus bogotensis f. lilacinus Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 3(2): 212 (1898).
Ipomoea acuminata var. burckii Boerl., Handl. Fl. Ned. Ind. 2: 511 (1899).
Ipomoea vahliana House, Ann. New York Acad. Sci. 18: 204 (1908).
Pharbitis rosea (Mill.) Britten, J. Bot. 47: 46 (1909), nom. illeg.
Ipomoea jamaicensis f. triloba Arechav., Anales Mus. Nac. Montevideo 7: 194 (1910).
Parasitipomoea formosana Hayata, Icon. Pl. Formosan. 6: 33 (1916).
Ipomoea halierca I.M.Johnst., Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., ser. 4, 20: 85 (1931).
Ipomoea congesta var. brevipedunculata Hochr., Candollea 5: 185 (1934).
Ipomoea kiuninsularis Masam., Trans. Nat. Hist. Soc. Taiwan 28: 116 (1938).
Pharbitis cathartica f. alba Moldenke, Amer. Midl. Naturalist 32: 572 (1945).
Pharbitis congesta (R.Br.) H.Hara, Enum. Spermatophytarum Japon. 1: 166 (1948).
Ipomoea indica f. albiflora B.C.Stone, Micronesica 2: 139 (1967).
Ipomoea congesta f. albiflora (B.C.Stone) E.Walker & Tawada, J. Jap. Bot. 46: 69 (1971).
Ipomoea acuminata f. albiflora (B.C.Stone) E.Walker, J. Jap. Bot. 47: 9 (1972).
Ipomoea indica var. acuminata (Vahl) Fosberg, Bot. Not. 129: 38 (1976).
Ipomoea indica f. alba H.St.John in J.R.Wichman & H.St.John, Chron. & Fl. Niihau: 125 (1990).

Distribution
Native distribution areas:

Continental: Northern America
Mexico (Baja California Norte, Campeche, Chiapas, Coahuila, Colima, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Mexico State, Michoacan, Oaxaca, Puebla, Queretaro, Quintana Roo, San Luis Potosi, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Yucatan, Zacatecas)
Continental: Southern America
Argentina (Buenos Aires, Catamarca, Chaco, Cordoba, Corrientes, Distrito Federal, Entre Rios, Formosa, Misiones, Santa Fe, Tucuman), S-Brazil (Parana, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina), Chile (Valparaiso), Paraguay (Guaira, Paraguari), Uruguay (Artigas, Canelones, Colonia, Montevideo, Paysandu, Soriano), Puerto Rico, Belize, Honduras, Bolivia (Cochabamba, Santa Cruz), Colombia (Antioquia, Choc, Cundinamarca, Huila, Santander, Tolima, Valle), Costa Rica, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Surinam, Venezuela (Aragua, Bolivar, Delta Amacuro, Monagas, Nueva Esparta, Sucre), N-Brazil (Amazonas), NE-Brazil (Pernambuco, Bahia, Alagoas), WC-Brazil (Mato Grosso, Goias, Distrito Federal), SE-Brazil (Minas Gerais, Espirito Santo, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro), Ecuador, Isla del Coco, Revillagigedos Isl. (Isla Clarion)

References: Brummitt, R.K. 2001. TDWG – World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, 2nd Edition
References
Primary references

Merrill, E.D. 1917. An Interpretation of Rumphius's Herbarium Amboinense. 595 pp., Manila, Bureau of Printing. BHL Reference page. : 445.

Links

Govaerts, R. et al. 2019. Ipomoea indica in World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2019 November 13. Reference page.
Hassler, M. 2019. Ipomoea indica. World Plants: Synonymic Checklists of the Vascular Plants of the World In: Roskovh, Y., Abucay, L., Orrell, T., Nicolson, D., Bailly, N., Kirk, P., Bourgoin, T., DeWalt, R.E., Decock, W., De Wever, A., Nieukerken, E. van, Zarucchi, J. & Penev, L., eds. 2019. Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2019 November 13. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2019. Ipomoea indica. Published online. Accessed: November 13 2019.
Tropicos.org 2019. Ipomoea indica. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2019 November 13.
USDA, ARS, Germplasm Resources Information Network. Ipomoea indica in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service. Accessed: 07-Oct-06.
Austin, Daniel F. (1997) Nomenclator Ipomoeeae
Ipomoea indica – Taxon details on National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).

Vernacular names
Afrikaans: Meerjarige purperwinde
English: Perennial morning glory, Oceanblue morning glory, Island morning glory, Blue dawnflower, Cock plant, White moonflower
español: campanita morada, batatilla de Indias
日本語: ノアサガオ
português: Bons-dias
svenska: Gryningsvinda
isiXhosa: iMotyikatsana
isiZulu: iBhoqo, iJalamu, uBatata wentaba

Ipomoea indica[3] is a species of flowering plant in the family Convolvulaceae, known by several common names, including blue morning glory, oceanblue morning glory, koali awa, and blue dawn flower. It bears heart-shaped or 3-lobed leaves and purple or blue funnel-shaped flowers 6–8 cm (2–3 in) in diameter, from spring to autumn. The flowers produced by the plant are hermaphroditic. This plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.[4][5]

The plant is grown as an ornamental for its attractive flowers, but it is invasive in many regions of the world and is specifically listed on New Zealand's Biosecurity Act 1993.

Etymology

The Latin specific epithet indica means from India, or the East Indies or China.[6] In this case, the name likely refers to the West Indies, as I. indica is native to the New World.
Description
At the BBC Gardeners' World show in June 2011 (note the tendrils around the black metal support)
Blue flowers

Ipomoea indica is a vigorous, long-lived, tender perennial vine native to tropical, subtropical and warm temperate habitats throughout the world. They can most commonly be found in disturbed forests, forest edges, secondary woodland, suburban gullies, and along roadsides and waterways. The plant climbs well over other plants, walls and slopes as growing on the bottom. Its climbing habit allows it to compete with trees and shrubs successfully. It is a twisting, occasionally lying, herbaceous plant which is more or less densely hairy on the axial parts with backward-looking trichomes. The stems can grow 3 to 6 cm long and sometimes have roots at the nodes.

The leaves are petiolate with 2 to 18 cm long petioles. The leaf blade is egg-shaped or round, 5 to 15 cm long and 3.5 to 14 cm wide. The underside is densely hairy with short, soft trichomes, the top is more or less sparsely hairy. The base is heart-shaped, the leaf margin is entire or three-lobed, the tip is pointed or sharply pointed.

The crown is funnel-shaped, 5 to 8 cm long, glabrous, bright blue or bluish purple, with age they become reddish purple or red. The centre of the crown is a little paler.

I. indica is a long-lived plant that can live up to 25 years.[7]
Inflorescence and fruit

The inflorescences are dense, umbelliform cymes from a few flowers. The inflorescence stems are 4 to 20 cm long. The bracts are linear or sometimes lanceolate. The flower stems are 2 to 5 (rarely up to 8 mm) long. The sepals are almost uniform, 1.4 to 2.2 cm long and slowly sharpened linearly. They are hairless to close-fitting, the outer three sepals are lanceolate to broadly lanceolate, and the inner two are narrowly lanceolate. The stamens and the stamp do not protrude beyond the crown. The ovary is hairless. The scar is three-lobed. The flowers change colour, where they start out as bright blue early in the morning, shifting to a darker shade of blue in midday, then to a lavender blue and finally to a deep pink at the end of the day.[8]

The fruits are more or less spherical capsules with a diameter of 1 to 1.3 cm. The seeds are about 5 mm in size and are dispersed via rain, wind, human activity, gravity, and waterways.

Flowering and fruiting are dependent on location. Some countries, such as Costa Rica and Nicaragua, observe year round flowering and fruiting while other countries like South Africa observe fruiting and flowering that is constrained to specific months.[7]
Distribution
Growing down a wall
Purple flowers in Uruguay

Its exact native distribution is unclear due to it being widely cultivated throughout the tropics of Eurasia, Africa and America, but it is currently thought by most authorities to be native to the Neotropics, from Florida[9] in the United States south to Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean and south to South America. It is also considered native to several Pacific islands, including Palau, the Hawaiian Archipelago (where its native Hawaiian name is Koali ‘awa),[10][11] French Polynesia, and Micronesia.[7]

However, other authorities consider it to be an introduced and/or invasive species in the United States, Mexico, and parts of its Caribbean and Pacific range.[7]
Invasive species

Ipomoea indica has become a noxious weed and invasive plant species in Australia, California, China, Ethiopia, France, Greece, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Montenegro,[12] New Caledonia,[13] New Zealand, Portugal,[14] South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda. In New Zealand, it is classed as an unwanted organism under the Biosecurity Act 1993 and it is therefore illegal to sell, propagate and distribute the plant.[15] It is listed on the National Pest Plant Accord for New Zealand.

When growing in optimal conditions, the plant is able to spread via seeds, stolons, and stem fragments. I. indica is capable of producing a very large amounts of seeds for dispersal. These seeds are easily germinated, giving the plant the ability to rapidly invade and colonize new land. It can grow over pre-existing trees, shrubs, and other plant species. I. indica successfully outcompetes many native plants for substrates, nutrients, sunlight and water. The stolons of blue morning glory create a thick mat over ground plants, reducing the light available for those plants. The stolons of blue morning glory are also capable of growing at a rapid pace, adding to the plant's succession.[7] Each part can grow as a separate plant if snapped during the process of attempted removal.

The only natural enemy of I. indica is the oomycete plant Albugo ipomoeae-panduratae, which have shown instances of infecting the plant. Its lack of natural enemies is another reason I. indica is very successful and adds to its invasive abilities.[7]
Cultivation

Blue morning glory is a popular species widely cultivated as an ornamental plant for its colourful flowers. It has spread throughout the tropics and subtropics of the Old World although those regions are not part of its native range. As it does not tolerate temperatures below 7 °C (45 °F), in temperate regions it is grown under glass.[16] It likes very light and nutrient-rich soil, which should be kept evenly moist.
See also

Ipomoea purpurea
Invasive species in New Zealand
Gardening in New Zealand

References

USDA Plants Profile
Aluka Species Profile
"Ipomoea indica". Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
"RHS Plant Selector - Ipomoea indica". Retrieved 7 September 2020.
"AGM Plants - Ornamental" (PDF). Royal Horticultural Society. July 2017. p. 53. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
Harrison, Lorraine (2012). RHS Latin for gardeners. United Kingdom: Mitchell Beazley. p. 224. ISBN 9781845337315.
"Ipomoea indica (ocean blue morning-glory)". www.cabi.org. Retrieved 2020-12-12.
Malloy, Mike (2016-04-15). "Morning glory's beauty part of glorious morning, colorful day". Naples Daily News.
"Ipomoea indica - Species Details". Atlas of Florida Plants. Retrieved 2020-12-12.
"Koali 'awa (Ipomoea indica)". Kure Atoll Conservancy. 2018-05-22. Retrieved 2020-12-12.
"Native Plants Hawaii - Viewing Plant : Ipomoea indica". www.nativeplants.hawaii.edu. Retrieved 2020-12-12.
Bubanja, Nada. "Five new alien species in the flora of Montenegro: Coreopsis tinctoria Nutt., Ipomoea indica (Burm.) Merr., Lupinus × regalis Bergmans, Physalis angulata L., and Solidago canadensis L. and new possible threats to the biodiversity". Acta Botanica CroaticaActa Botanica Croatica. 76: 98–102.
Hequet, Vanessa (2009). Les espèces exotiques envahissantes de Nouvelle-Calédonie (PDF) (in French). p. 17.
Plantas invasoras em Portugal (2013). Ipomoea indica. Available in http://invasoras.uc.pt/gallery/ipomoea-indica/. Accessed on 28 July 2013.
"Blue morning glory". Biosecurity New Zealand. 20 March 2009. Archived from the original on 27 May 2010. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
RHS A-Z encyclopedia of garden plants. United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. 2008. p. 1136. ISBN 978-1405332965.