4. Ipomoea polymorpha Roemer & Schultes, Syst. Veg. 4: 254. 1819.
羽叶薯 yu ye shu
Convolvulus defloratus Choisy; C. nolaniflorus Zippelius ex Spanoghe; C. robertianus Sprengel; Ipomoea heterophylla R. Brown; I. pumila Spanoghe; I. tashiroi Matsumura.
Herbs annual. Stems erect to decumbent, simple or branched basally, 8-60 cm; branchlets densely pilose, ± glabrescent. Petiole 0.5-7 mm, sparsely pilose; leaf blade entire, coarsely dentate, or irregularly pinnatifid with few segments, usually 3-cleft; middle segment linear-lanceolate, 2-2.5 cm X 2-3 mm; lateral segments broadly linear, 4-8 X 1-2 mm, sparsely pilose and ciliate, base cuneate and attenuate. Flowers solitary, axillary; bracts linear, 1-2 cm, villous. Peduncles and pedicels very short or absent. Sepals with a distinct midvein, 8-10 mm, pubescent, apex long acuminate; outer ovate-lanceolate, entire or with 1 or 2 teeth at margin; inner ones lanceolate. Corolla red-purple or rarely white, tubular-funnelform, ca. 1.3 cm, glabrous. Stamens included. Ovary and style glabrous. Capsule enclosed in calyx, globose, ca. 5 mm, 2-loculed, 4-valved. Seeds ca. 3 mm, gray-brown tomentellous.
Grasslands, sandy seashores; below 100 m. Hainan, Taiwan [Cambodia, ?India, Indonesia, Japan (Ryukyu Islands), Laos, Malaysia, New Guinea, Philippines, Vietnam; Africa, NE Australia].