Ipomoea pes-caprae (L.) Sweet
beach morning glory
Deeply tap-rooted glabrous perennial. Stems prostrate, trailing, to c. 10-(20) m long, rooting at nodes, terete. Petiole to c. 11 cm long, usually erect. Lamina 4-12-(17) × 3.5-12-(15) cm, broad-oblong to suborbicular, entire, thick; base cuneate to truncate; apex emarginate or shallowly 2-lobed. Infl. 1-several-flowered; peduncles 3- c. 15 cm long; pedicels 1-3 cm long. Sepals 8-12 mm long, unequal, ovate, obtuse. Corolla 3-5 × (4)-4.5-5-(5.5) cm, funnelform, pink with an irregular rose band inside around the base of the limb. Stamens included. Capsule c. 2 cm long, globose-ovoid. Seeds 2-4, brownish tomentose.
N.: Ninety Mile Beach (N. Auckland); K.: Raoul Id, Curtis Id.
Also indigenous to most tropical regions.
Beaches and coastal cliffs.
FL Oct-Apr.
Beach morning glory is an abundant tropical strand sp. The small colony recorded from Ninety Mile Beach almost certainly originated from seeds recently floating there. N.Z. plants are referable to subsp. brasiliensis (L.) Ooststr., the usual subsp. occurring in tropical regions. Like I. cairica it belongs to sect. Leiocaylx.
