Ipomoea cordillerae

Wood, John R. I., Munoz-Rodriguez, Pablo, Williams, Bethany R. M. & Scotland, Robert W., 2020, A foundation monograph of Ipomoea (Convolvulaceae) in the New World, PhytoKeys 143, pp. 1-823 : 1

8. Ipomoea cordillerae J.R.I. Wood & Scotland, Kew Bull. 72 (9): 9. 2017. (Wood and Scotland 2017a: 11)

Ipomoea malveoides Meisn. var. ovata Hallier f., Bull. Herb. Boiss. 7 (5): append. 1: 152. 1899. (Hallier 1899b: 52). Type. PARAGUAY. [Cordillera], Cordillera de Peribebuey, 6 April 1883, B. Balansa 4391 (lectotype G00174792, designated by Wood and Scotland (2017a: 11), isolectotypes G, P).

Type.

Based on Ipomoea malveoides Meisn. var. ovata Hallier f.

Description.

Erect subshrub to at least 50 cm; stems woody below, ± glabrescent; above herbaceous, softly white-tomentose. Leaves very shortly petiolate, 2.4-7 × 3.2-5 cm, ovate, oblong or oblong-elliptic, acute and mucronate, base broadly cuneate, margin entire, both surfaces softly pubescent, abaxially more densely so, paler, adaxially somewhat glabrescent on very old leaves; petioles 0-4 mm, densely pubescent to villous. Inflorescence usually of solitary, pedunculate axillary flowers forming a long terminal raceme; occasionally of axillary cymes with up to five flowers from the uppermost leaf axils; bracts leaf-like except the uppermost of which are much reduced; peduncles 0.8-4 cm, densely white-pubescent; bracteoles 6 mm long, linear filiform; pedicels 0.6-7 cm, densely pubescent; sepals with a dark gland near base, somewhat unequal, outer 9-15 × 2-4 mm, narrowly to broadly ovate, acuminate or acute and mucronate, tomentose, inner similar bur with broad scarious margins; corolla 6-6.5 cm long, funnel-shaped, pink, pubescent, limb c. 5 cm diam. Capsules c. 1.2 × 0.8 cm, ovoid, glabrous; seeds 7 × 4 mm, blackish, glabrous.

Illustration.

Figure 14 .

Distribution.

Endemic to Paraguay and growing in forest clearings (fide Balansa 4391). PARAGUAY. Cordillera: E. Hassler 285 (K, P), 1903 (K, P), 8714 p.p. (BM, K).

Note.

Characterised by the relatively long acuminate or acute and mucronate sepals usually around 12 mm in length combined with the softly tomentose indumentum and ovate-elliptic leaves. In the type the leaves are silvery beneath but this is less obvious in the other cited collections. Ipomoea paraguariensis differs in the much shorter silvery sepals and more strictly terminal inflorescence and I. estrellensis differs in the shorter, obtuse to subacute sepals, the shorter peduncles and the ciliolate leaf margins. We have seen no modern collections of this species.

Specimens of Hassler 8714 are mixed, those at BM and K are this species but some specimens with this number are Ipomoea paraguariensis . They are all labelled as from Villarrica where Ipomoea paraguariensis grows but the specimens of I. cordillerae presumably came from the Pirebebuy area.

• Speces 9-18 form a complex in which Ipomoea malvaeoides is the best-known and most common species.

Figures

Figure 14. Ipomoea cordillerae. A habit (flowering plant) B adaxial leaf surface C abaxial leaf surface D habit (fruiting plant) E portion of stem and leaves F outer sepal G inner sepal H seed J form with branched inflorescence. Drawn by Rosemary Wise A-C from Hassler 8714 (GH); D-H from Balansa 4391: J from Hassler 485. Drawn by Rosemary Wise.