Merremia digitata

Nomenclature

Accepted name/Authority/Place of publication: 

Merremia digitata (Spreng.) Hallier f., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 16: 552. 1893.

Synonyms: 

Gerardia digitata Spreng., Syst. Veg. 2: 808. 1825. TYPE. Brazil, Sellow s.n. (holotype, B13788 presumed destroyed; photos F, GH).

Ipomoea albiflora Moricand, Pl. Nouv. Amer. 114. t. 70. 1838. TYPE. Brasil. apud Igreja Velha, Blanchet 3330 (holotype G-DC; isotype G).

Ipomoea albiflora var. cinerea Meisn. in Martius, Fl. Bras. 7: 231. 1869. TYPE. Brasil. Minas Gerais: Oct, Riedel (M).

Description

Habit: 
Herbs; the stems erect or more commonly decumbent, tips not or rarely twining, glabrous or with simple (fide O'Donell) or stellate trichomes, terete.
Leaves: 
Petioles 1-5 mm long. Leaf blades digitately 5-7 foliolately compound, leaflets sessile, 2-5(-10) mm wide, 20-60 mm long, lanceolate or elliptic, obtuse to acute apically, mucronulate, mostly attenuate basally, glabrous or glandular or less commonly stellate pubescent, glabrescent.
Inflorescences: 
Flowers mostly solitary rarely to 3 and cymose, the peduncles 1-4 cm long, glandular, the pedicels 5-10 mm long, glandular, the bracts 1-5 mm long, linear to linear-lanceolate.
Flowers: 
Sepals unequal, the outer 8-10 mm long, 4-5 mm wide, acute to acuminate, elliptic, the inner 11-14 mm long, similarly shaped, with glandular or stellate indumentum or glabrous; corollas campanulate, white 28-30 mm long; stamens unequal, the filaments with two 12-14 mm long, the other three 14-15 mm, basally glandular pubescent, the anthers 4-5 mm long, spirally dehiscent; pollen 3-colpate; ovary spheroid to conic-spheroidal, glabrous, 3-4 mm long, the style 19-20 mm long, the stigma 2-globose.
Pollen: 
Pollen 3-colpate
Fruits: 
Fruits capsular, 4-locular fide Meisn..
Author: 
Staples, G.W. & D.F. Austin.
References: 

Austin, D. F. & G. W. Staples. Convolvulaceae in Flora Neotropica [unpublished data]. 

Biogeography, Ecology and Natural History

Distribution Map: 
Distribution: 

Found in Brazil and Guyana.

Author: 
Staples, G.W. & D.F. Austin.
References: 

Austin, D. F. & G. W. Staples. Convolvulaceae in Flora Neotropica [unpublished data]. 

Other information

Infraspecific Characters: 

Three intergrading varieties are recognized and these in turn are very similar to M. flagellaris. The following key should separate the 4 taxa of similar plants.

1. Bracts 8-10 mm long. Sepals 15-80 mm long                                                            M. flagellaris

1. Bracts 1-5 mm long. Sepals 9-15 mm long

2. Sepals and stems glandular                                                                     M. digitata var. ericoides

2. Sepals and stems stellate to glabrous

3. Leaves entire to lobed; if lobed the lobes over 1 cm broad                     M. digitata var. elongata

3. Leaves digitately lobed; the lobes less than 1 cm broad                           M. digitata var. digitata

Authorship for webpage

Editor: 
George Staples, Esmond Er
Contributors: 
Classification: 
Merremia digitata
Tue, 2011-10-04 08:37 -- Esmond
http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/23fae7ceaa50619ce7ef9c7d4922f7b2.jpg?d=https%3A//convolvulaceae.myspecies.info/sites/all/modules/contrib/gravatar/avatar.png&s=100&r=G

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