298 USEFUL PLANTS OF GUAM. 
Jesuits. They were much more to the taste of Europeans than the yams of the 
island and were among the supplies most prized by the whalers visiting the island. 
The natives seldom grew them for their own use, but contented themselves with 
yams, exchanging the sweet potatoes for fabrics and other things brought by the 
ships. 
Sweet potatoes grow very well in Guam. They are among the crops which will 
thrive on the high land or ‘‘mesa’’ in places where the soil is too much exhausted 
(‘‘cansado’’) for other things. 
REFERENCES: 
Ipomoea batatas (L.) Poir, Eneye. 6: 14. 1804. 
Convolvulus batatas L, Sp. Pl. 1: 154. 1753. 
Ipomoea biloba. Same as Jpomoeu pes-caprae. 
Ipomoea choisiana. PURPLE MORNING-GLORY. 
Local NAMES.—Pipa (Rarotonga); Tangi-mimi (Samoa). 
Stems trailing, somewhat twining; leaves variable, not fleshy, 2 to 7 em. long, 
cordate or hastate at the base, acute or obtuse, mucronate, entire or more or less 
dentate, or deeply 3 or 5-lobed, glabrous; petiole usually longer than the leaves; 
flowers rather large, purple, on rather long glabrous pedicels, solitary or 2 or 3 from 
a short common peduncle; bracts inconspicuous; sepals 7 mm. long, obovate-oblong, 
obtuse, mucronate, glabrous; corolla widely funnel-shaped; limb 3.5 em. in diame- 
ter, lobes apiculate; ovary 2-celled; capsule globose, glabrous; seeds smooth. 
A tropical seashore plant of wide distribution. First observed in Guam by 
Gaudichaud. 
REFERENCES: 
Ipomoea choisiana, 
Convolvulus denticulatus Desrouss. in Lam. Eneye. 8: 540. 1789. 
Ipomoea denticulata Choisy, Mem. Soc. Phys. Geney. 6: 467. 1833, not R. Br. 
1810. 
The binomial published by Choisy is preoccupied by the Ipomoea denticulata: of 
Robert Brown, and the specific name is therefore untenable, even though it be of 
earlier date in combination with a different generic name. 
Ipomoea congesta. ISLAND MORNING-GLORY. 
Family Convolvulaceae. 
Loca, NAMEs.—Fofgu (Guam); Koali, Koali awahia (Hawaii); Wa wuti (Fiji). 
A stout twining plant, with cordate, acuminate leaves and azure blue flowers, 
turning purple or reddish on drying. Lower part of stem weody, leaves with broad 
rounded sinus at the base and auricles, 7.5 to 11 em. long, when young silky pubes- 
cent on both faces; petioles 5 to 10 em. long; peduncles bearing 2 or more flowers; 
sepals herbaceous, acuminate; corolla tubular-campanulate, 5 to 7.5 em. long, ciliate 
at the bottom of the tube, as are also the bases of the style and stamens; stamens 
one-half as long as the corolla; style as long as the stamens, the stigma entire, 
globose; ovary supported by a campanulate disk; capsule globose, about the size of 
a small cherry, splitting into halves, the two seeds dark brown, glabrous. 
The leaves of this plant are sometimes 3-lobed and the apex less acuminate than 
in the typical form. It grows on the island of Apapa, in the harbor of Apra, and 
was referred to by Freycinet as Convolvulus trilobatus. It climbs among thickets. 
The root is a powerful cathartie. 
It was first collected in Guam by Gaudichaud. It oceurs in Hay rail, Fiji, Tonga, 
Samoa, Tanna, Norfolk Island, and on the east coast of Australia. 
REFERENCES: 
Ipomoea congesta R. Br, Prod. 485. 1810, 
Ipomoea denticulata. Same as Ipomoea choisiana. 
Ipomoea insularis Steud. Same as Ipomoea congesta. 
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