Ipomoea lobata
Stellar winds
The stellar winds or Spanish flag (Ipomoea lobata ) is a plant of the genus Morning Glory (Ipomoea ), which belongs to the family of wind plants ( Convolvulaceae ). She comes from southern Mexico and Central America. Another unusual feature is the striking color changes of the flowers.
- 5.1 Notes and references
Description
Appearance and leaf
The stellar winds is a perennial herbaceous plant and grows as a vine. The stems are smooth or grooved, at most slightly hairy on the node and reach a length of 3 to 6 m.
The alternate arranged on the stem axis leaves are divided into petiole and leaf blade. The petiole is more than 10 inches long. The membranous leaf blade is in both length and width of 3-12 cm in outline ovate, three-lobed with blunt or tapered at the top. The leaf margins are smooth or serrated usually rare in the lower lobes.
Inflorescence and flower
In the home areas is the flowering season between September and November. The flowers are einseitswendig, in forked, up to 40 cm long inflorescences ( winding ).
The hermaphrodite flowers are radial symmetry and fünfzählig double perianth. The five identically designed, pointed sepals are 1.5 cm long with blunt upper ends. The five petals are tubular and baggy grown somewhat inflated, bent, and 1.8 to 2 cm long. The color of the crown varies during flowering: While the bud is colored red, the flowers change color just before the opening of orange. The open flower is yellowish, later often almost white. This color change is due the plant the name " Spanish Flag ". The five stamens are more than twice as long as the crown, from which they protrude far. The stamens are white and the anthers yellow. The white pen towers above the stamens.
Fruit and seeds
The bare fruit capsule has a diameter of 6 to 7 mm and contains from one to four seeds. The brown to black seeds are spherical with a diameter of 4 to 5 millimeters.
Occurrence
Ipomoea lobata is widespread in southern Mexico in the states of Michoacán, San Luis Potosí, and Guerrero and in Guatemala; there are also indications that the natural range extends to the Americas. It grows in deciduous forests and oak forests at altitudes 0-1300 meters.
System
The first description under the name ( basionym ) Mina lobata in 1824 by Vicente Cervantes, Pablo de La Llave and Juan José Martinez de Lexarza: Novorum Vegetabilium Descriptiones, 1, pp. 3-4 based on cultivated specimens, whose starting material was collected in Mexico. The recombination Ipomoea lobata to ( Cerv. ) Thell. published in 1919 by Albert Thellung in the quarterly magazine of the Society of Natural Sciences in Zurich, Volume 64, p 775. Other synonyms for Ipomoea lobata ( Cerv. ) Thell. are Convolvulus mina ( G.Don ) Kuntze, Ipomoea mina ( G.Don ) Voss, Ipomoea versicolor Meisn. , Mina cordata Micheli, Quamoclit lobata ( Cerv. ) House, Quamoclit mina G.Don, Quamoclit pallescens Brongn. ex Neumann. The specific epithet refers to the lobata lobed leaves.
Ipomoea lobata belongs to Mina section of the subgenus in the genus Ipomoea Quamoclit.
Use
As an ornamental plant it is widespread in the tropics and subtropics worldwide and is also in temperate latitudes as - cultivated ornamental plant - usually then one year.