The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Species

Ipomoea cairica

Etymology

Ipomoea: Worm-like, referring to coiled flower bud
cairica: Of or from Cairo (Egypt)

Common Name(s)

pouwhiwhi, coastal morning glory, railway creeper

Current Conservation Status

2012 - Not Threatened

Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2012 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS). This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2009 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Authors: Peter J. de Lange, Jeremy R. Rolfe, Paul D. Champion, Shannel P. Courtney, Peter B. Heenan, John W. Barkla, Ewen K. Cameron, David A. Norton and Rodney A. Hitchmough. File size: 792KB

Previous Conservation Status

2009 - Not Threatened
2004 - Not Threatened

Authority

Ipomoea cairica (L.) Sweet

Family

Convolvulaceae

Flora Category

Vascular - Native

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Lianes and Related Trailing Plants

Distribution

Indigenous. New Zealand: Kermadec (Raoul, Macauley, Cheeseman Islands), Three Kings, North and Great Barrier Islands. Mostly local and the exact southern are now unclear due to this species cultivation well south of apparently indigenous populations, and the subsequently naturalisation from these plantings via garden waste and (sometimes) deliberate plantings. The most likely natural southern limit is the Waitemata Harbour though most literature regards Tiritirimatangi Island as the actual southern limit. Also widespread in Africa, Asia, Australia, western Central America and in many of the Pacific islands of Oceania on some of which it may be naturalised.

Habitat

Coastal. A local to sometimes abundant vine of dune systems, coastal scrub and cliff face vegetation, rubble slopes and mangrove (Avicennia marina subsp. australasica). Also an occasional urban weed found in waste land, rubbish dumps, car yards and hedges.

Features

Perennial rhizomatous vine. Stems cable like, usually glabrous (rarely minutely pubescent), initially ± smooth and reddish green to purple but maturing grey with the surface becoming conspicuously tuberculate. Leaves with petioles 20-60 mm long, usually falsely stipulate; lamina 30-100 mm long, palmately divided almost to base, ovate to orbicular in outline, 5-7-lobed, lobes lanceolate to elliptic or obovate with outermost lobes sometimes unequally 2-lobed, acute to obtuse, mucronulate. Inflorescences axillary, 1-several-flowered; peduncle 10-80 mm long; pedicels 10-30 mm long. Sepals 4.5-6.0 mm long, ovate, with outer sepals slightly shorter, obtuse to acute, mucronulate, glabrous. Corolla funneliform, purple, reddish-purple or white. Stamens and style included. Capsule c.10 mm long, ± globose. Seeds c.0.5 mm long, subglobose to ovoid, densely, shortly tomentose.

Similar Taxa

Easily distinguished from the other Ipomoea indigenous to or naturalised in New Zealand by the palmately divided leaves.

Flowering

September - July

Flower Colours

Red / Pink,Violet / Purple

Fruiting

September - August

Propagation Technique

Very easy from cuttings, rooted pieces and fresh seed. Inclined to become very aggressive and weedy, so is rarely cultivated. It makes an excellent sand binder and will tolerate extremes of habitat, though it is frost sensitive. In cooler areas if may die back to its root stock if frosted, only to resprout when local conditions warm.

Threats

Not Threatened

Chromosome No.

2n = 30

Endemic Taxon

No

Endemic Genus

No

Endemic Family

No

Life Cycle and Dispersal

Seeds are dispersed by wind and water (Thorsen et al., 2009).

This page last updated on 30 May 2015