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Argyreia nervosa

(Elephant Creeper)

Overview

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This coarse vine nicely represents the features typical in the family .

Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in English:

Elephant Creeper, Baby Wood-Rose, Elephant-Climber, Elephant-Creeper, Elephant-Vine, Hawaiian Baby Woodrose, Silver Elephant Creeper, Silver-Morning-Glory, Wood-Rose, Woodrose, Woolly Morning Glory, Woolly Morning-Glory, Woolly-Morning-Glory

Common Names in Hindi:

Samandar-Ka-Pat, Samudrasos, समदर۔का۔पट, समुनदा॒सोस

Common Names in Spanish:

Hojas De Seda

Description

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Family Convolvulaceae

Herbs or shrubs , usually with twining or climbing stems or erect , often with milky juice. Leaves alternate, simple , entire, dissected , or compound , absent in parasitic species. Flowers solitary, axillary or in cymes, racemes , panicles, umbels, or capitula, bisexual , actinomorphic , usually 5-merous, often showy. Sepals free , often persistent , sometimes enlarged in fruit. Corolla sympetalous , funnelform , campanulate , salverform , or urceolate ; limb subentire or deeply lobed . Stamens alternating with corolla lobes , adnate to corolla; filaments filiform , equal or unequal in length ; anthers introrse , laterally and longitudinally dehiscing; pollen smooth or finely spiny . Disc ringlike or cupular. Ovary superior, mostly 2-carpellate, 1- or 2-loculed, rarely 3- or 4-loculed; ovules basal, erect. Styles 1 or 2, terminal (gynobasic in Dichondra) or very short or absent; stigma entire or 2- (or 3) -lobed, rarely peltate. Fruit a capsule, dehiscing by valves , circumscissile, or irregularly shattering, less often a berry or nutlike. Seeds usually trigonous , smooth or pubescent .

About 58 genera and 1650 species: widely distributed in tropical , subtropical , and temperate regions ; 20 genera and 129 species in China.

Aniseia biflora (Linnaeus) Choisy and A. stenantha (Dunn) Ling, recognized in the Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin., are here treated as Ipomoea biflora and I. fimbriosepala, respectively, because both have pantoporate and spinulose pollen. Strictly speaking, Aniseia is a neotropical genus of about five species, of which A. martinicensis (Jacquin) Choisy is widely naturalized as a common weed in rice paddies in Thailand and other southeast Asian countries. It will probably be found in S China eventually.

The family is important in China for food plants (Ipomoea batatas (Linnaeus) Lamarck and I. aquatica Forsskål), several ornamentals (Ipomoea), several medicinal plants (Erycibe, Ipomoea, Cuscuta, Merremia, Dichondra, Evolvulus), and numerous noxious weeds (Cuscuta, Calystegia, Convolvulus) .

Pollen aperture type and surface ornamentation are important characters in the classification of Convolvulaceae at the generic level and above. The most critical feature of the pollen is whether the grain surface is spiny or not. This distinction separates the eight tribes recognized by Austin (Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 60: 306-412. 1973) into two rather cohesive groups. A low magnification (20 ) is adequate for discerning the presence or absence of minute spines on the surface.

For the successful identification of Convolvulaceae, both flowering and fruiting material should be collected. The first key to genera requires adequate fertile material with both flowers and fruit, and requires use of a pollen character. The second key may be used as an aid to identification where material is lacking flowers or fruit, but in some instances it is still partially dependent upon having both flowers and fruit.[1]

Genus Argyreia

Shrubs , scandent or lianas. Stems woody. Leaves petiolate , entire, sometimes silvery sericeous abaxially. Inflorescences axillary , rarely terminal , in cymes, or loose or compact capitula, few to many flowered; bracts persistent or early deciduous, small or large. Sepals persistent, herbaceous or ± leathery, pubescent abaxially, glabrous and often red adaxially, ± enlarged and reflexed in fruit. Corolla purple, red, pink, or white, campanulate , funnelform , or tubular ; limb subentire to deeply 5-lobed, with 5 distinct , mostly pubescent midpetaline bands . Stamens inserted near base of corolla, included or exserted; filaments filiform , base dilated, often pubescent or glandular ; pollen globular , pantoporate , finely spiny . Disc ringlike or cupular, margin entire or shallowly 5-lobed. Ovary 2- or 4-loculed, 4-ovuled, pubescent or glabrous. Style 1, filiform, included or exserted; stigma capitate, 2-lobed or 2-globular. Berry red, purplish, orange, or yellowish, globose or ellipsoid , fleshy , mealy , or leathery. Seeds 4 or fewer, rarely pilose at hilum .

About 90 species: mainly tropical Asia, with one species in Australia (Queensland) ; 22 species in China.

No monograph of Argyreia exists, and the mainland Asian species have not been studied for a contemporary flora or regional revision . A comparison of the Chinese material with those from regions to the south reveals that a profusion of names has developed for what appears to be a significantly smaller number of taxa. It was not possible to sort out the nomenclature for the species involved due to the lack of access to type material and the exceedingly complex literature dealing with Argyreia. Therefore, a conservative approach is taken, and nearly all of the taxa described from China are maintained, and possible conspecific taxa are pointed out. The flowers of Argyreia marlipoensis are unknown. It has not been possible to place the species in a key that relies heavily on floral characters. One cultivated species, A. nervosa, is included in the key but not treated further.[2]

Physical Description

Habit: Vine , Forb/herb, Subshrub

Flowers: Bloom Period: blooms repeatedly • Flower Color: medium blue

Size/Age/Growth

Size: 30-40' tall.

Habitat

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 618 meters (0 to 2,028 feet).[3]

Biology

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Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Growth

Culture: Space 24-36" apart.

Soil: Minimum pH: 5.1 • Maximum pH: 6.0

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Sun to Partial Shade.

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 9b, 11. (map)

Taxonomy

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Synonyms

Argyreia speciosa (L. F.) Sweet • Convolvulus nervosus Burm. F. • Convolvulus speciosus L. F. • Lettsomia Nervosa • Lettsomia nervosa (Burm. F.) Roxb. • Rivea nervosa (Burm. F.) Hallier F.

Notes

Basionym : Convolvulaceae Convolvulus nervosus Burm.f.

Basionym author: (Burm.f.)

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: 15-Mar-2000

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Argyreia

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 4 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

A. hookeri (Argyreia) · A. nervosa (Elephant Creeper) · A. tiliifolia (Spottedheart) · A. wallichii (Argyreia)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 16, 2007:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Ruizheng Fang & George Staples "Convolvulaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 16 Page 271. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. Ruizheng Fang & George Staples "Argyreia". in Flora of China Vol. 16 Page 313. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  3. Mean = 286.670 meters (940.518 feet), Standard Deviation = 269.180 based on 12 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
Last Revised: 7/15/2012