Ipomoea imperati - Beach Morning Glory

Beach Morning Glory is a perennial, hairless herb, with stems trailing, up to 5 m, rooting at nodes. Flowers are usually borne singly, occasionally 2 or 3 together. Flowers are white, with a pale yellow tube and a dark reddish or purplish center, funnel-shaped, 3.5-4 cm, hairless. Stamens and pistil do not protrude out, stigma 2-lobed. Flower-cluster-stalks are about 2 cm; bracts triangular, about 2 mm. Flower-stalks are 0.7-1.5 cm, stout. Sepals are oblong, unequal, leathery, hairless, tip blunt or pointed, with a short point. Outer 2 sepals are 7-11 mm; inner ones up to 1.5 cm. Leaf-stalks are 0.5-4.5 cm; leaf blade quite variable, often linear, lanceshaped, oblong, or ovate on same plant, 1.5-3 x 0.8-2 cm, rather fleshy, base flat or shallowly heart-shaped, margin entire, wavy, or 3-5-lobed; middle lobe ovate to oblong, lateral lobes smaller, tip blunt or notched to 2-lobed. Capsule is spherical, about 1 cm, smooth, hairless. Seeds are about 8 mm, woolly, margin with longer hairs. Beach Morning Glory is found on coastal sandy beaches, dunes, grasslands, at altitudes of 0-100 m. It is a pantropical and warm temperate coastal species.