Ipomoea cairica

• Botanical Name : Ipomoea cairica (L.) Sweet
• Synonyms : Ipomoea palmata Forsk
• Common Name : The Railway Creeper, Porter's Joy, Narvel, Swairini
• Plant Family : Convolvulaceae
• Plant Form : Climbers
• Occurrence (Sectors) : 22, 27,28, 30
• Occurrence (Special Areas) : Indroda Park

About Ipomoea cairica Plant :

• Habit : A large, perennial twiner, stems with lenticels.
• Leaves : Palmately cut almost to the base into 3-7, usually 5, lanceolate or elliptic lobes.
• Flowers :
  • Large, purple, often in 3-flowered cymes, axillary.
  • Sepals 5, ovate, dotted with whitish specks inside.
  • Corolla large, infundibulum, mauve or purple with deeper tinge in the throat.
  • Stamens 5 filaments unequal, hairy at base.
  • Ovary 2-celled, style slender, bilobed.
• Fruit : Capsules ovoid.
• Flowering and Fruiting Time : All the year round.
• Significance : Very common everywhere in the gardens and exceedingly common on trellises and fences on all railway platforms.