Diagnostic description ⁵

Merremia aegyptia (L.) Urb., Symb. Antill. 4: 505. 1910.

Fig. 75. A-E

Basionym: Ipomoea aegyptia L.

Slightly woody vine, twining or creeping, attaining 3 m in length, with scarce milky latex. Stems cylindrical, slender, hispid, with simple yellowish hairs. Leaves alternate; blades 5-palmately compound, chartaceous; leaflets 4-14 × 2-6 cm, oblanceolate or elliptical, the apex and base acuminate, the margins entire, ciliate; upper and lower surface hispidulous; petioles slender, sulcate, hispid, 6-8 cm long. Flowers in dichasial cymes; peduncles shorter than the petioles; bracts deciduous. Calyx green, the sepals unequal, 1.5-2 cm long, lanceolate or elliptical, hispid outside on the basal portion, acute at the apex; corolla white, infundibuliform, 2.5-3 cm long, the limb slightly pentagonal, 4-4.5 cm in diameter; stamens and stigmas white, not exserted. Capsules subglobose, ca. 1 cm in diameter, light brown, glabrous, with the sepals persistent, accrescent, and expanded; seeds obtusely triangular, 5-6 mm long, pale brown, glabrous.

Phenology: Flowering and fruiting from November to May.

Status: Native, uncommon.

Selected Specimens Examined: Acevedo-Rdgz., P. 527; 3080; 5360; 7216; Axelrod, F. 10485.

Distribution ⁶

Distribution: Occasional in disturbed areas at lower and middle elevations. Also on Mona, St. Croix, St. John, St. Thomas, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda; throughout the tropics.

Public forest: Boquerón, Cambalache, and Mona.

Sources and Credits

1. (c) Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://collections.nmnh.si.edu/services/media.php?env=botany&irn=10351008
2. (c) Forest & Kim Starr, some rights reserved (CC BY), https://www.biolib.cz/IMG/GAL/51549.jpg
3. (c) Forest & Kim Starr, some rights reserved (CC BY), https://www.biolib.cz/IMG/GAL/51550.jpg
4. (c) Daniel H. Janzen. Guanacaste Dry Forest Conservation Fund., some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.boldsystems.org/pics/_w300/MHPAC/BioBot11742-BB050852+1292436640.JPG
5. (c) Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/28435259
6. (c) Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/28435781

More Info

• iNat taxon page
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• BOLD Systems BIN search
• eFloras.org
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
• HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants
• IPNI (with links to POWO, WFO, and BHL)
• SEINet Symbiota portals
• Tropicos
• World Flora Online

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