Ipomoea eriocarpa

Ipomoea eriocarpa R. Br., Prodr. Fl. Nova Holland. 484. 1810; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 4: 204. 1885; Collett, Fl. Siml. ed. 2. 337. 1921 (Reprint 1980); Dhaliwal & Sharma, Fl. Kullu Dist. 462. 1999; Kaur & Sharma, Fl. Sirmaur 444. 2004; Singh & Sharma, Fl. Chamba Dist. 484. 2006; Fl. China @ eFloras.org 16: 303; Austin, Fl. Pak @ eFloras.org p. 41; Convolvulus hispidus Vahl, Symb. Bot. 3: 29. 1794; Ipomoea hispida (Vahl) Roem. & Schultes, Syst. Veg. 4: 238. 1819; I. sessiliflora Roth., Nov. Pl. Sp. 116. 1821; Stewart, Punj. Pl. 150. 1869.

Twining, trailing or sometimes prostrate herb, retrosely to patent hispid or pilose; stems 1-2 m long. Leaves alternate, leaf blade 3-9 cm x 1.2-3.5 cm, ovate, ovate- oblong, margin entire, base cordate or hastate with rounded auricles, apex long-acuminate, sometimes acute, appressed hispid on both surfaces; lateral veins 6-7 pairs. Petioles 1-6.5 cm long, densely hispid. Flowers axillary, in sessile or short-pedunculate 1-7-flowered cymes or almost heads. Bracts 5-6 mm long, linear or narrowly lanceolate, pilose. Pedicels very short, pilose, ca. 1 mm long (ca. 2 mm long in fruit) or absent. Flowers actinomorphic, bisexual, 5-merous, hypogynous, pink or purple, ca. 8 mm long and across. Sepals 5, +/- equal, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, apex acuminate, 7-9 mm long, inner ones being slightly narrower and shorter, abaxially densely hispid, adaxially hispidulous. Corolla pink or purplish, trumpet-shaped to funnelform, 7-9 mm long, midpetaline bands densely hirsute outside; limb 5-lobed, lobes triangular, ca. 1 mm long. Stamens 5, inserted at base of corolla tube, included; filaments 2-3 mm long; anthers ovate, ca. 1 mm long, longitudinal dehiscence. Carpels 2, syncarpous; ovary ca. 1.5 mm long, villous, 2-locular, each loculus with 2 ovules; style 1, ca. 2.5 mm long; stigma capitate, bilobed. Capsule 4-6 mm long, broadly globose with one apical beak, pilose, hairs with bulbous base, opening at top by 4 valves, usually 4-seeded. Seeds 2.5-3 mm long, black, glabrous.

Flowering and Fruiting: August to October
Common Names: Tiny Morning Glory, Wooly-fruited Morning Glory; Buta, Bhanwar (Hindi)