Ipomoea densibracteata O'Donell

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

170. Ipomoea densibracteata O'Donell , Lilloa 23: 438. 1950. ( O’Donell 1950a: 438)

Type.

BOLIVIA. Santa Cruz, Prov. Cordillera, Cabezas, I. Paredo 453 (holotype LIL001236).

Description.

Vigorous climber or liana to 4 m; stems stout, densely pubescent. Leaves petiolate, 3-9 × 2-8 cm, ovate, obtuse and mucronate, margin undulate, cordate and cuneate onto the petiole, adaxially green, densely pubescent, abaxially grey-subtomentose; petioles 1-3 cm, subtomentose. Inflorescence of solitary bracteate flowers aggregated into dense cymes or racemes; bracts resembling small leaves; peduncles 1-3.5 cm, densely pilose to tomentose; bracteoles foliose, 1.2-2.5 × 0.5-0.8 cm, oblong-elliptic, obtuse, narrowed to a cuneate base, persistent; pedicels 0-5 mm; sepals hidden by bracteoles, subequal, 8-9 × 4-6 mm, elliptic, obtuse, coriaceous, convex, somewhat pubescent when young, glabrescent and completely glabrous when in fruit; corolla 5-8 cm long, funnel-shaped, pink with a darker centre, glabrous, limb 2.5-4 cm diam., undulate. Capsules enclosed by persistent bracts, 7-8 × 5 mm, glabrous, ovoid, rostrate; seeds 5 mm, oblong, long-pilose.

Illustration.

Figure 100 .

Distribution.

An uncommon Bolivian endemic growing in scattered populations below 500 m in scrub and on forest margins around the northern and western fringes of the Chaco.

BOLIVIA. Santa Cruz: Chiquitos, El Tinto-Laguna Concepción, J.R.I. Wood & D. Soto 27118 (K, LPB, USZ); Cordillera, San José to Tucavaca, Solis Neffa et al. 1846 (CTES, LPB); A. Fuentes 1421 (ARIZ, CPAP, USZ); Ñuflo de Chávez, Concepción, J.R.I. Wood & D. Soto 27919 (OXF, K, LPB, USZ); Velasco, San Ignacio to San Miguel, J.R.I. Wood et al. 13134 (K, LPB, USZ).

Note.

A very distinctive species because of its persistent foliose bracteoles combined with the coriaceous, convex sepals.

Figures

Figure 100. Ipomoea densibracteata. A habit with poorly developed inflorescence B well developed inflorescence C adaxial leaf surface D abaxial leaf surface E bracteole F outer sepal G inner sepal H corolla opened up to show stamens. Drawn by Eliana Calzadilla from Wood et al. 28016.