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Potato Vine
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Potato Vine
ntroduced Photo: Thingnam Girija
Common name: Potato Vine • Manipuri: Morok lei
Botanical name: Solanum laxum    Family: Solanaceae (potato family)
Synonyms: Solanum jasminoides, Solanum boerhaviifolium, Solanum triphyllum

Potato Vine is a woody climber that forms branches 2-8 m long and has a base that can reach more than 10 cm in diameter. Fast-growing, it climbs by winding the leaf stalks around supports. The ovate or ovate-lanceshaped leaves are 3-5 cm long and 1.5-2.5 cm wide. The white or pale blue flowers appear in groups of around 20 in branched inflorescences, produced in profusion in the spring but also sporadically at other times of the year. Flowers are shallowly incised, 2 cm across, white or pale blue. Anthers 2-4 mm long. Flower-stalks are 1-1.5 cm long; fruiting flower-stalk to 4 mm diam. below sepal-cup. Sepal-cup is 2-3 mm long; sepals tapering, 1-1.5 mm long. Potato Vine is native to South America, widely cultivated worldwide. It is seen in the hill stations of India. .

Identification credit: Tabish Photographed in Mussoorie.

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