Merremia dissecta

Nomenclature

Accepted name/Authority/Place of publication: 

Merremia dissecta (Jacq.) Hallier f., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 16: 552. 1893; Austin, Florida Scientist 42: 219. 1979.


Synonyms: 

Operculina dissecta (Jacq.) House, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 33: 500. 1906.

Ipomoea dissecta (Jacq.) Pursh, Fl. Amer. Sept. 145. 1814, non Willdenow (1794).

Ipomoea reniformis (Roxb.) Choisy

Merremia sinuata (Ortega) Hoehne, Anex Mem. Inst. Butantan 1, fasc. 6: 61. 1922. (Combination made in association with transfer of variety edentata). 

Convolvulus dissectus Jacq., Obs. Bot. 2: 4. plate 28. 1767. TYPE. grown in Vienna from seeds collected in “America” by Jacquin (no specimen found).

Ipomoea sinuata Ortega, Pl. Hort. Reg. Botan. Matr. dec. 7: 84. 1798. TYPE. cultivated in Madrid from seeds sent from Cuba,  D. Espinosa s.n. (MA?).

Description

Habit: 
Twiners, semi-woody; axial parts ± yellowish spreading hirsute. Stems woody basally, tuberculate, glabrescent, herbaceous when young. Vines; stems perennial, but herbaceous toward tips, to 3-4 m long, rough, with verrucose projections, longitudinally striate, hollow, to 4 mm in diameter, occasionally larger, glabrate to hirsute or hispid with simple yellowish trichomes to 3 mm long.
Leaves: 
Petiole 2.5–7 cm; leaf blade palmately 5–7-divided nearly to base; segments lanceolate, middle segment 25–100 × 5–30 mm, lateral segments smaller, glabrous or pubescent along veins abaxially, margin coarsely dentate to irregularly pinnately lobed, apex mucronulate.
Inflorescences: 
Inflorescences 1- to several flowered; peduncle 5–10 cm. Pedicel 1.5–2 cm, thicker distally, minutely tuberculate, glabrous.
Flowers: 
Sepals ovate-lanceolate, nearly equal, 2–2.5 cm, enlarged and leathery in fruit, glabrous, margin narrowly scarious, apex acute, mucronulate. Corolla white, with purple-red throat, funnelform, midpetaline bands distinct. Anthers spirally twisted. Ovary glabrous.
Fruits: 
Fruit a papery, subglobose capsule, 2 locular, surrounded by the persistent and enlarged, chartaceous calyx, the lobes 25-30 mm long, 10-13 mm wide, dehiscing by 4 valves
Seeds: 
seeds often 4, subglobose, black, glabrous, with a circular 6-8 mm diameter hilum.
Author: 
Fang R.C. & G. Staples
References: 

Fang R.C., G. Staples, et al. 1995. Convolvulaceae in P. Raven & C.Y. Wu (eds.) Flora of China 16: 271–325.  

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 Convolvulaceae in Flora Neotropica [unpublished data]. 

Cytology

Chromosome number: 
30
32
Author: 
Fang R.C. & G. Staples
References: 

Fang R.C., G. Staples, et al. 1995. Convolvulaceae in P. Raven & C.Y. Wu (eds.) Flora of China 16: 271–325.  

Biogeography, Ecology and Natural History

Distribution Map: 
Distribution: 

China (Guangdong), India, Indonesia, ?Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka; native in North and South America; U.S.A. (Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia), Mexico, Middle America, West Indies, northern South America and disjunct to southern Brazil; Bolivia and Paraguay. Also widely introduced and naturalized throughout the Old World tropics; 

Australia (Western Australia, Northern Territory, Queensland); native of tropical and subtropical America, now widespread throughout the tropics.  

Ecology: 

Cultivated
and escaped. 

Author: 
Fang R.C. & G. Staples
References: 

Fang R.C., G. Staples, et al. 1995. Convolvulaceae in P. Raven & C.Y. Wu (eds.) Flora of China 16: 271–325.  

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

Johnson, R. W. Austrobaileya 8: 55–63. 2009

Other information

Common names and uses: 
duo lie yu huang cai (Chinese). Sprain bush (Anguilla, Lesser Antilles).
Infraspecific Characters: 

Merremia dissecta is an extraordinarily variable species and the taxonomy is not resolved. Two varieties are recognized and the following key will separate them.  

Corollas white with a purplish center. Sepals 18-25 mm long, completely glabrous

                                                                                                                   M. dissecta var. dissecta

Corollas completely white. Sepals 20-35 mm long, either glabrous or hirsute

                                                                                                                  M. dissecta var. edentata

Authorship for webpage

Editor: 
George Staples, Esmond Er
Contributors: 
Classification: 
Merremia dissecta
Fri, 2011-09-16 09:32 -- Esmond
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