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