474 CONVOLVULACER. (Ipomen. 
1. IPOM@EA, Linn. 
Twining or prostrate herbs, rarely suberect. Leaves alternate, 
entire or lobed or divided. Flowers usually large and handsome, 
axillary, solitary or cymose. Sepals broad or narrow, equal or un- 
equal, erect in fruit or rarely spreading. Corolla campanulate or 
funnel-shaped ; tube long or short; limb entire or 5-angled, more 
rarely slightly 5-lobed. Stamens included or exserted, often un- 
equal ; filaments filiform or dilated at the base; anthers oblong or 
linear, ultimately twisted or straight. Ovary 2-celled, 4-ovuled, 
rarely 4-celled and 4-ovuled or 3-celled and 6-ovuled; style fili- 
forin ; stigma entire and capitate, or shortly 2-lobed with globular 
lobes. Capsule globose or ovoid, 4- or rarely 2-3-valved. Seeds 
as many as the ovules or fewer, glabrous or pubescent. 
Taken in a wide sense, this is a genus of between 300 and 400 species, 
spread through all warm climates. Both the New Zealand species have a wide 
range in tropical countries. 
Leaves digitately divided Ac Bs Be .. 1. I. palmata. 
Leaves obtusely 2-lobed, thick and fleshy aie .. 2. I. biloba. 
The kumara or sweet potato (Ipomea batatas, Lamk. ; Convolvulus cliryso- 
rhizus, Forst.) was introduced by the Maoris from Polynesia when they first 
colonised New Zealand, and constituted their chief vegetable food when the 
country became known to Europeans. It is still extensively grown, but has no 
elaim to be included among the indigenous species. 
1. I. palmata, Porsh. Fl. Egypt. drab. 43.—A slender glabrous 
twiner ; stems many feet in length, the old ones more or less tuber- 
culate. Leaves 1-3 in. diam., digitately divided almost to the base ; 
lobes 5-7, lanceolate or elliptic-lanceolate, obtuse or subacute, entire 
or the outer ones irregularly lobed, rather membranous. Peduneles 
erect, 1-2in. long, 1-3-flowered. Sepals 1-4 in. long, ovate. obtuse 
or subacute. Corolla large, 2-3 in. diam., pale-purple with a darker 
centre. Capsule nearly in. diam., ovoid-globose, glabrous, 2-celled. 
Seeds 2-4, villous.—Benth. Fl. Austral. iv. 415. I. pendula, &. Br. 
Prodr. 486; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 396; Ruoul, Choiw, 44; Hook. f. 
Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 184. 1. tuberculata, Rem. and Schultes Syst. iv. 
208; Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 199. 
KERMADEC IstaNps: Sunday Island, not uncommon on the cliffs, 7. #’. C. 
Nort Istanp: Sea-cliffs from the North Cape to the Bay of Islands and 
Hokianga. December—April. 
An abundant plant in the tropics of both hemispheres, attaining its 
southern limit in New Zealand. 
2. I. biloba, Forsk. Fl. Egypt. Arab. 44.—Pertfectly glabrous ; 
stems prostrate or trailing, sometimes 40 ft. long. Leaves on 
petioles 1-4 in. long; blade often broader than long, 1—4 in. across, 
orbicular or broadly obovate or oblong, emarginate or shortly and 
obtusely 2-lobed, thick and fleshy, prominently veined. Peduncles 
