I P O M CE A. 
thick foliage ; that it is a weakly climber, and feldom riles 
above four feet from the ground. He gives it the name 
of American jeJJ'amine. Mr. Miller fays it is called in the 
Weft Indies Jzuect William,-and by fome Indian pink. The 
flowers appear in July and Auguit, and continue.in fuc- 
ceflion great part of September. He fays it grows natu¬ 
rally in both Indies, and that in the Weft-India iflands it 
runs up the hedges to a conliderable height. It is cer¬ 
tainly a native of the Eaft Indies, whence it was probably 
tranfported to the Weft Indies, of which it does not feem 
to be aboriginal. 
Ctefalpinus firft (1580) gave a fhort defcription of this 
plant, as then newly arrived from India, under the name 
of Gdfeminum rvbrum alterum ; next to him, Camerarius 
gave a figure and defcription of it, by the name of Qua- 
moc/it ; and Columnn, following Camerarius, defcribed and 
figured 4 t more accurately. Our old authors regarded it 
as a native of America, and Parkinfon calls it the red 
bell-flower of America, He fays, (162.9,) “it Harare plant, 
that we feldom have, and can hardly keep ; it perifiies 
every year, and with us will feldom come to flower, be- 
caufe our cold nights and frolts come fo foon, before it 
can have comfort enough of the fun to ripen it.” Jolin- 
fon, in the Appendix of his edition of Gerarde’s Hiftorie 
of Plants, calls it winged binde-weed, and gives a figure 
from Clufius’s Curse Pofteriores, with a delcription bor¬ 
rowed from Columna. He fays, “ it is fo tender a plant, 
that it will not come to any perfe&ion with us, unlefs in 
extraordinary hot years, and by artificial helps. By rea- 
fon of the great plenty of leaves and flowering ftalks or 
branches winding themfelves about artificial hoops, croff- 
ings, or other fafhioned works of reeds, or the like, fet 
for winding herbs to climb upon, it much delights the 
eye of the beholder, and is therefore kept in pots, in gar¬ 
dens of pleafure.” 
2. Ipomcea rubra, or upright ipomcea: leaves pinnatifid, 
linear; flowers in racemes, pendulous. The young plants, 
the firft year, produce numerous leaves, fpreading in a 
circle, elegantly jagged, fomewhat like the finer ones of 
buck's-horn plantain ; from the centre of thefe, the fecond 
year, arifes a lfraight ftem, fimple or unbranched below, 
but having feveral b/anchlets on the upper part; it is the 
thicknefs of a wheat-ftraw at bottom, and three quarters, 
of a yard or more in height; clothed from top to bottom 
with leaves, refembling thofe of Hottonia, and placed al¬ 
ternately ; the lower ones broader, longer, and divided 
into more fegments; which are fewer and more finely cut 
the nearer they are to the top. Flowers from the top of 
the ftem, and the ends of the fide-branchlets, peduncled, 
pendulous, ufually fo!itary,but forming-altogether a thyrfe; 
(raceme, Linn.) Corolla of a bright red colour, darker, on 
the outfide; within paler, and variegated with white fpots 
and purple ftreaks. When the ftem pufhes up, the root- 
leaves wither away; and the ftem itfelf, though rigid, foon 
perifhes after flowering. According to Linnaeus, who 
had it from Ellis, it is of a doubtful genus. He firft 
ranged it with the Polemoniums, though he allowed the 
appearance to be different. The ftem is fuff'ruticofe and 
ftraight; the plant is not milky ; the calyx is one-leafed, 
with a fhort tube, and.awl-lhaped ; teeth longer than the 
tube, btamens inferted into the middle of the tube of the 
corolla without valves. Native of Carolina, two hundred 
and fifty miles above Charles-town, in low fandy places, 
.where it was found by Catefby flowering in June. He 
fent the feeds to Dr. James Sherard, and it was cultivated 
in the Eltham garden before 1732. It flowered there in 
October, but the plant perilhed. 
_ 3. Ipomcea umbellata, or umbelled ipomcea: leaves di¬ 
gitate in fevens; peduncles umbelled, very fhort. Native 
of South America. 
4- Ipomoea Carolina, or Carolina ipomcea: leaves digi¬ 
tate, leaflets petioled, peduncles one-flowered. Native 
of the Bahama iflands, on rocks; found there by Mr. 
Catefby. 
279 
5. Ipomcea coccinea, orfearlet-flowered ipomoea: leaves 
cordate, acuminate, angular at the bale; peduncles many- 
flowered. An annual plant, fix or eight feet high. The 
corolla is not fo deep-coloured as that of the firft fort; and 
there is a variety with orange-coloured flowers. Browne 
obferves, that it is remarkable for the curved or arched 
figure of the tube in the corolla. Native of the Weft In¬ 
dies; cultivated in 1759 lj y Mr. Miller; flowers from June 
to September. 
6. Ipomcea lacunofa, orftarry ipomcea: leaves cordate, 
acuminate, fcrobiculate, angular at the bafe ; peduncles 
one or two-flowered, (hotter than the flower. Stems from 
a foot to two feet in height, (lightly angular, procumbent 
unlefs iupported, and then climbing. Leaves having lit¬ 
tle pits on the furface,' (whence Linnaeus’s trivial name,) 
on petioles from half an inch to an inch in length ; from 
the axils of thefe, on fliort peduncles, fpring the flowers, 
ufually folitary, but fometimes two on a peduncle, (mail, 
white, with the edges (lightly tinged with purple, and the 
fegments (harp-pointed ; the tube is (hotter than in I. 
quamodit; the ftamens ftand out lefs, and are clofer to¬ 
gether. The feed-vefiel ordinarily contains in two cells 
four feeds, which are convex on one fide, and flat on the 
other ; it is (lightly hairy towards the top, but all the 
other parts of the plant are free from hairs. The feed- 
leaves are two-lobed, and refemble the feed of the Acer, 
or maple, in form. It is an annual plant, and a native of 
Virginia and Carolina, whence the feeds were fent to the 
Eltham garden, and there it was cultivated before 1732 ; 
but we had it fooner than this, according to Parkinfon’s 
Theatre of Plants, publilhed in 1640. It flowers here in 
July. 
7. Ipomcea folanifolia, or nightfhade-leaved ipomoea : 
leaves cordate, acute, quite entire; flowers folitary.. This 
refembles I. coccinea, but the leaves have no angles, and 
the flowers are of a rofe-colour. Native of America. 
8. Ipomcea tuberol'a, or tuberous-rooted ipomcea : leaves 
palmate; lobes in fevens, lanceolate, acute, quite entire; 
peduncles three-flowered. Root tuberous ; Items feveral, 
fhrubby, twining, woody at bottom, and the thicknefs of 
the human thumb. Flowers yellow, (bright yellow, Mil¬ 
ler-, fulphur-coloured, Linn, purple, Lour.) handfome, two 
inches in diameter, fmelling-Tweet. This plant is won¬ 
derfully beautiful when in flower, and the very fragrant 
odour of the flowers gives it an additional value. It is 
much ufed in the Weft Indies for arbours, for which it is 
very fit, on account of the multitude of its branches and 
ever-green leaves, which the fun cannot penetrate. It 
fpreads to fuch an extent, that it may be carried over an 
arbour of three hundred feet in length, from one root. 
Every part of the plant is purgative, and abounds with 
milk; probably fcammony might be made from the milky 
juice of the root. Loureiro affirms that the tubers are 
eatable, like batatas, (convolvulus,) which they refemble 
very much in tafte, (ize, and (hape. Native of the Weft: 
Indies, where, however, Jacquin informs 11s that he found 
it wild only in St. Domingo, on the higher mountains 
near Cape Francois. Browne thinks that it was intro¬ 
duced into Jamaica from the continent. It is called in 
that ifland feven-year vine, or Spanijh arbour-vine. If I. tu- 
berola of Loureiro be the fame with this, which feems 
doubtful, from his account of the colour of the flower 
and quality of the root; it is found alfo in Cochin-china, 
but originally from Siam. 
9. Ipomcea digitata, or hand-leaved ipomoea : leaves 
palmate, lobes in fevens, lanceolate, blunt; peduncles 
three-flowered. This has a fmooth twining (talk, which 
riles four or five feet high; leaves feflile, five-lobed. The 
flowers come out from the fide of the (talk upon fhort pe¬ 
duncles, which fuftain two or three purple flowers ; feeds 
brown. Native of the Weft Indies. 
10. Ipomcea bona nox, or prickly ipomoea: leaves cor¬ 
date, acute, quite entire; ftem prickly, flowers in threes; 
corollas undivided. This is an annual plant, growing to 
a very 
