Sunday, February 15, 2009

Ipomoea obscura (L.) Ker Gawl.

English Name : Obscure morning-glory

Family : Convolvulaceae

Origin : Madagascar

Description
An annual, slender herb, stems twining or prostrate, 1—2 m long, glabrous or patently hairy, older parts lignescent. Leaves ovate, orbicular, to almost kidney-shaped, 2—10 cm x 2—9 cm, base cordate, apex attenuate, acuminate or mucronulate, margins entire or slightly undulate, petiole up to 9 cm long. Flowers in a 1—few-flowered cyme, peduncle 1—14 cm long, slender; pedicel 1—2 cm long, clavate and reflexed in fruit, sepals subequal, 3—4 mm long, ovate, often reflexed in fruit, corolla funnel-shaped, 2—2.5 cm long, white or pale yellow with darker midpetaline bands, centre dark purple, filaments unequal, hairy at the base, ovary glabrous. Capsule broadly ovoid, 7—8 mm long, mucronate, straw-coloured. Seeds 4, 4—4.5 mm long, black, finely grey-puberulent.

Habitat
Occurs in grassland, thickets, hedges, thin forests, waste grounds, along roadsides, occasionally along sandy beaches, from sea-level up to 1300 m altitude.

Parts Used : Leaf

Medicinal Use
A paste of the leaves, together with those of Argyreia mollis Chois. and alcohol, is spread on open sores and pustules, to ripen them. The leaves are used crushed or dried and powdered for aphthae.

Reference

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