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CONVOLVULACEAE
10. Ipomoea maxima (Linn, f.) G. Don in Sweet Hon. Brit. ed. 2. 373. 1830. (Fig. 149).
Ipomoea sepiaria Koenig—Ipomoea striata Roth.— Ipomoea Iteynii Wall.—Convolvulus maxima
Linn. (.—Convolvulus maximus Vahl— Convolvulus striatus Vahl—Convolvulus marginatus
Lamk.—Convolvulus sepiarius Wa\\.—Convolvulus t'nerassatus Wall.
Sinh. Rasatelkola; Tarn. Manjigai, Manjigam, Talikkirai, Talikkodi; Hindi Bankalmi;
Sans. Asrabinduchhada, Lakshamana, Manjika, Nagaputri, Nagavha, Nagini, Puchhada,
Putrada, Putrajanani, Putrakanda, Tulini.
A perennial herb with slender, twining, glabrous or rarely hairy stems; leaves simple,
alternate without stipules, 5—8.7 cm long, 2.2—5.7 cm broad, ovate or broadly ovate, widely
cordate at base, shortly acuminate, obtuse or subacute, glabrous; petioles 2.5—5.3 cm long;
flowers regular, bisexual, moderate—sized, white or pale pinkish-purple on glabrous pedicels
4—8 together, rather crowded in umbellate or corymbose cymes, peduncle 2.5—15 cm long,
stout; sepals 5, broadly oval, imbricate, very obtuse with membranous margins, the two outer
sepals shorter than the inner ones; petals 5, fused into a salver-shaped corolla, curolla-tube
2.5 cm long, purple within, limb 3.1 cm ' diameter, lobes shortly apiculate, convolute and
contorted in bud; stamens 5, unequal on corolla-tube, filaments short, hairy at the base; ovary
superior, 2-1 ocular with 2 ovules in each' chamber, style simple.stigmas 2, globose; fruit capsule
0.8—I cm long, ovoid, glabrous, dehiscent, seeds grey with adpressed silky pubescence.
Flowers in July and August.
Illustrations. Rheede. Hort. Ind. Mai. 11: pi. 53. 1678—1703; Wight, ic. PI. Ind. Orient.
pi. 838. 1843—45; Herb Peradeniya., drawing.
Distribution. Occurs throughout India, Ceylon, Malaya and Formosa. In Ceylon, it
is common in the dry low-country.
Ceylon. Northern Prov., Jaffna, Thwaites CP. 1937. North Western Prov., Kurunegala,
Herb. Peradeniya., Sept. 1888. Southern Prov., Hambantota, Alston, Dec. 1926; Ruhuna
National park, Fosberg 50371, April 1968.
Uses. Used as a deobstruenf, diuretic and as an antidote for arsenic poisoning.
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