Ipomoea. lageli 
Sepals subcoriaceous, oblong, shortly and abruptly acute, glabrous 
or with a few long soft hairs, 8—9 mm long, two outer smaller 
than the three inner ones. Corolla reddish, campanulate-funnel-shaped, 
21/, cm long. Ovary 4-celled. Seeds glabrous. Flow. January 
to March. 
M. ma. Cultivated everywhere in fields near Alexandria, and 
often subspontaneous. 
Local name: batata. 
Widely cultivated in Tropical Africa, as it is in the other tropical and 
subtropical regions of both hemispheres, Its original native country is not 
clearly ascertained, 
1078. (4). Ipomoea palmata Forsk. Flor. aeg. arab. (1775), p. 43. 
— Boiss. Flor. Or. IV, p. 113. — Choisy in DC. Prodr. [X. 386; Benth. 
in Hook. Niger Fl. 468. — Schweinf. Beitr. Fl. Aethiop. 95; Baker & 
Wright in Dyer, FI. Cap. IV. II. 66. — I. cairica, Sweet, Hort. Brit. ed. I. 
287; Hallier f. in Engl. Jahrb. XVIII. 148. — Aschers.-Schweinf. Ill. 
Flor. d’Eg., p.107 no. 706. — I. senegalensis, Lam. Ill. 1.464. — I. tuber- 
culata, Roem. & Schultes, Syst. IV. 208; Choisy, l. c. 386. — I. vesicu- 
losa, P. Beauv. Fl. Owar. IT. 73, t. 106; Choisy, 1. ¢. 387. — I. Mendesii, 
Welw. Apont. Phytogeogr. 584, no. 12. — Batatas senegalensis, G. Don, 
Gen. Syst. IV. 261. — Convolvulus cairicus, Linn. Syst. ed. X. 922; Bot. 
Mag. t. 699. — Perennial, glabrous. Stems slender, twining, smooth 
or tubercled or muricate. Leaves membranous, glabrous, 2—6 cm 
long and broad, cut nearly or quite to the base into generally five 
segments, the lowest of which are sometimes unequally bifid to bipar- 
tite; segments from narrowly oval to lanceolate, varying from 2 mm 
to nearly 2,5 cm in breadth, obscurely mucronulate at the obtuse 
or subacute apex; petiole slender, as long as the blade, sometimes 
muriculate; base apparently stipulate from the presence of a pair of 
small similarly palmatipartite axillary leaflets. Peduncles generally 
shorter than the leaves, bearing lax few-to many-flowered cymes. 
Bracts minute, ovate; pedicels about 10 mm long. Sepals coria- 
ceous, ovate to orbicular-ovate, obtuse, 5—8 mm long. Corolla 
funnel-shaped, bright red-purple, 2'/,—5 cm long. Capsule globose, 
glabrous, 8—12 mm in diam., 2-celled. Seeds 4, dark brown, 
shortly pubescent, angles bearded with long whitish hairs. — Flow. 
January to March. 
M. ma. M. p. N. d. N.f. N. v. O. D. a. sept. Cultivated every- 
where and often subspontaneous. 
Local name: sherk-falek (Delile); bint-el-hosn; generally: sitt- 
el-hosn. 
Also known from South Africa, and widely spread in the Tropics of 
both hemispheres. 
4g* 
