210 
CONVOLVULACiE. 
[Ipomoea. 
soft grey hairs like those of the stem. Peduncles 2 in. long; flowers 
5-6 in an umbel, on | in. pedicels. Calyx -f in. long ; sepals free to 
the base, oblong, acute, much imbricated. Corolla lf-2 in. long, bright 
red-purple. Ovary 3-celled. Pharbitis fragraus, Bojer , Hort. Maur. 
227 ; Choisy in DC. Prod. ix. 341. Ipomoea Lindleyi, Choisy in DC. 
Prod. ix. 371. 
Rodriguez, perhaps introduced, Dr. Balfour ! Cultivated in Mauritius. Also 
Madagascar, Johanna Island, and Tropical Africa. 
* I. pentaphylla , Jacq. Ic. t. 319, (Convolvulus, Linn. ; Batatas, 
Choisy ; Spiranthera, Bojer), a native of Tropical America, is casually 
subspontaneous in Mauritius. It is an annual twiner, with slender 
stems clothed with deflexed bristly hairs, leaves with 5 oblong mem- 
branous distinct leaflets narrowed to both ends, peduncles 4-6-flowered, 
with long flexuose pedicels, flower-sepals \ in. long growing out in 
fruit to 1-1J inch outer acute inner obtuse clothed with spreading 
hairs like those of the stem, corolla white twice as long as the calyx, 
capsule not exserted from the calyx naked within. 
* I. Batatas, Lam. (Convolvulus Batatas, Linn. ; Batatas edulis, 
Choisy), the common tropical sweet potato, is often found about 
abandoned plantations. It is a perennial, with a large white or red 
edible tuberous root, trailing pilose stems, long-petioled membranous 
cordate-deltoid acute entire or shallowly-lobed leaves, peduncles 3-4- 
flowered, sepals cuspidate in. long, corolla purplish, 1-1J in. long. 
Batate or Patate. 
11. I. paniculata, B. Br. Prod. 486. A shrubby perennial climber, 
glabrous in all its parts. Boot thick, tuberous. Leaves as broad 
as long, 4-6 in. across, cordate, with 5-7 deep acute palmate lobes ; 
petiole 2-3 in. long. Peduncles longer than the petioles, corymbosely 
4- 12-flowered. Plower-sepals obtuse, in. long. Corolla purple, 
2 in. long, and the throat as broad when expanded. Stamens reaching 
halfway up the corolla. Capsule \ in. long, exceeding the sepals, 
densely woolly within. Bot. Beg . t. 62. Convolvulus paniculatus, Linn. 
Batatas paniculata, Choisy. Ipomoea mauritiana, Jacg. Hort. Schoen. t. 
200. I. insignis, Andrews, Bot. Bep. t. 635 ; Ker, Bot. Beg. t. 75 ; Bot. 
Mag. t. 1790. 
Mauritius, Rodriguez, and Seychelles, not uncommon in waste lands. Cos- 
mopolitan in the tropics. 
12. I, acetossefolia, Valil, Eel. i. 18. A trailing perennial, gla- 
brous in all its parts. Leaves short-petioled, fleshy, very variable in 
shape, ligulate or oblong, obtuse or emarginate, entire or palmately 
5- lobed. Peduncles 1-flowered, longer than the petioles. Sepals 
oblong, with a distinct cusp, in. long. Corolla white, 1|—1| in. 
long. Capsule in. thick, globose, 4-celled. Seeds as large as a pea, 
densely hairy. Convolvulus littoralis, Linn . Batatas littoralis, Choisy ; 
DC. Prod. ix. 337. 
Given by Dupont as a native of Mauritius, but I have not seen specimens. 
Round the world on shores of the tropical and subtropical zones. 
