Ipomoea

Vegetative characteristics

Ipomoea are annual or perennial^[8] twining, prostrate or erect,^[9] herbs,^[10] shrubs, lianas,^[11] or trees^[8] usually with twining or trailing stems bearing simple, or rarely compound leaves.^[12]

Generative characteristics

The few- to many-flowered,^[11] axillary, solitary or cymose inflorescences^[12] bear small to large,^[9] blue, red, pink, purple, white, orange, or yellow,^[8] pentamerous flowers.^[11]

Common names

Their most widespread common name is morning glory, but some species in related genera bear that same common name and some Ipomoea species are known by different common names. Those formerly separated in Calonyction^[14] (Greek καλός kalós "good" and νύξ, νυκτός núx, nuktós, "night") are called moonflowers.^[7]

Etymology

The name Ipomoea is derived from the Ancient Greek ἴψ, meaning 'woodworm', and ὅμοιος (hómoios), meaning "resembling". It refers to their twining habit.^[15]

Pollination

The species of Ipomoea interfere with each other's pollination. Pollen from different species compete in each other's reproductive processes, imposing a fitness cost.^[16]

As medicine and entheogen

Humans use Ipomoea spp. for their content of medical and psychoactive compounds, mainly alkaloids.^[20] Some species are renowned for their properties in folk medicine and herbalism; for example, Vera Cruz jalap (I. jalapa) and Tampico jalap (I. simulans) are used to produce jalap, a cathartic preparation accelerating the passage of stool.^[21] Kiribadu ala (giant potato, I. mauritiana) is one of the many ingredients of chyawanprash, the ancient Ayurvedic tonic called "the elixir of life"^[22] for its wide-ranging properties.

The leaves of I. batatas are eaten as a vegetable, and have been shown to slow oxygenation of LDLs, with some similar potential health benefits to green tea and grape polyphenols.^[23]

Other species were and still are used as potentially potent entheogens. Seeds of Mexican morning glory (tlitliltzin, I. tricolor) were thus used by Aztecs and Zapotecs in shamanistic and priestly divination rituals, and at least by the former also as a poison, to give the victim a "horror trip"^[24][25] (see also Aztec entheogenic complex). Beach moonflower (I. violacea) was also used thusly, and the cultivars called 'Heavenly Blue', touted today for their psychoactive properties, seem to represent an indeterminable assembly of hybrids of these two species.

Ergoline alkaloids occur in several Ipomoea species whose seeds host heritable Periglandula fungi. Seeds of I. tricolour and I. purpurea commonly contain lysergamides such as ergine (D- lysergic acid amide, LSA) and its epimer isoergine; other reported alkaloids include lysergol, lysergic acid hydroxyethylamide (LSH), and ergometrine (ergonovine)^[26]

Human data indicate that LSA produces comparatively mild psychedelic effects with prominent sedation; adverse effects frequently include nausea and vasoconstriction.^[27]

Albert Hofmann and colleagues first isolated lysergamides from I. corymbosa and I. violacea seeds and reported early human observations.^[28]

Analytical studies of Ipomoea seeds have generally found ergometrine at lower concentrations than LSA, and note that LSH is labile and can rearrange to LSA during extraction or storage.^[29]

The subjective effects of morning glory seeds vary with species, alkaloid profile, preparation and dose.^[27]

Though most often noted as "recreational" drugs, the lysergamides^[30] are also of medical importance.