Ipomoea quamoclit

Ipomoea quamoclit L., Sp. Pl. 159. 1753; Roxb., Fl. Ind. ed. Carey & Wall. 1: 503. 1832; Clarke in Hook. f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 4: 199. 1883; Trimen, Handb. Fl. Ceylon 3: 215. 1895; Austin, Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org p. 48; Quamoclit pinnata Bojer, Hort. Maurit. 224. 1837; Q. vulgaris Choisy, Mem. Soc. Phy. Geneve. 6: 434. 1834; Choisy in DC., Prodr. 9: 336. 1845.

Twiner, stem glabrous, striate, ca. 1.5 cm diameter. Leaves alternate, exstipulate, 1-9 cm long, ovate in outline, deeply pinnatisect with 9-19 alternate or opposite pairs of linear lobes, glabrous. Flowers solitary or 2-5-flowered-cymes, pedunculate, axillary, +/- 3.5 cm long, actinomorphic, bisexual, 5-merous, hypogynous; pedicels swollen at apex. Sepals 5, free, elliptic to oblong, unequal, 4-7 mm long, obtuse apically, with a 0.25-0.75 mm long mucro, glabrous. Corolla salverform, red, glabrous; tube 2.3-2.7 cm long; limb 5-lobed, lobes triangular, 5-6 mm x 5-6 mm, each with 2 veins prominent abaxially. Stamens 5, inserted at the base of corolla tube, unequal; filaments red, 2.1-2.3 cm long, glandular hairy at base; anthers ca. 1.2 mm long, oblong, shortly sagittate at base, basifixed. Carpels 2, syncarpous; ovary 2-locular, 2 ovules per loculus; style 2.5-2.8 cm long, filiform, clavate at base; stigma capitate, ca. 1 mm x 1.25 mm, bilobed. Fruit capsular, ovoid, 6-9 mm long, 7 mm wide at base with persistent clavate style as beak. Seeds 4 per capsule, 5-6 mm x 2-4 mm, ovoid-deltoid, dark brown to black with dark patches of short trichomes scattered somewhat irregularly.

Flowering and Fruiting: August to October
Common Names: Cypress Vine, Star Glory, Hummingbird Vine; Kamlata (Hindi)