Ipomoea is a large genus of more than 500 species of the tropical and warm-temperate parts of both hemispheres, almost all of the species being climbing herbs or shrubs. The genus has several species of medicinal value, but the most important economic specie is the sweet potato (I. batatas).
Ipomoea violacea Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. (1753) 161.
Plant an annual vine, much branched, glabrous thoughout. Leaves membranaceous, entire, ovate, 4-10 cm long, 3-8 cm wide, deeply cordate, long acuminate, often soon caducous; petioles up to 1.5 cm long. Inflorescence cymose, 3- to 4-flowered; peduncle thickened, hollow, wandlike, longer than petiole; bracts triangular-ovate, acute, up to 1.2 mm long; bracteoles similar but minute. Flowers 5-7 cm wide; tube white, corolla limb white, red, purple, violet-blue, or blue, often spotted or blotched; sepals triangular-ovate, acute, 5-6 mm long, subequal, exterior ones marginate, dorsally carinate; corolla infundibuliform, 5-7 cm long. Fruit ovoid, 13 mm long.
Ranging through western and southern mexico and Guatemala, the West Indies, and tropical South America. Other names frequently used are Ipomoea rubrocaerulea and I. tricolor.
The seeds of this specie were called tlitliltzin in the Náhuatl language of the Aztecs of Mesoamerica and were employed in a religious context by them. They are presently used by the Zapotecs of Oaxaca and Mitla in Mexico.
The seeds of this specie contain ergot alkaloids. Total alkaloid content of the seeds of Ipomoea violacea is 0.06%.
Turbina has been segregated fom Ipomoea on several minor characters which often intergrade. The ten species of Turbina are native to tropical America.
Turbina Corymbosa (L.) Rafinesque, Fl. Tellur. 4 (1838) 81.
Plant large scandent, twining, perennial, woody vine. Leaves 5-9 cm long, 2.5-6 cm wide, broadly cordate or ovate-cordate, entire glabrous or very sparingly pubescent, long-petiolate. Peduncles axillary, usually many-flowered. Flowers fragrant, borne in congested axillary cymes; corolla infundibuliform or hypercraterimorphous, 2-4 cm long, nearly 3 cm across when open, white or whitish with greenish stripes, lobes entire, glabrous; stigmas 2; stamens included; ovary glabrous 2-celled; sepals ovate to ovate-lanceolate, enlarged in fruit, scarious, somehwat ligneous, about 1 cm long. Fruit baccate, indehiscent, ellipsoidal, mucronate, 1-seeded, 5-10 mm long, 4-5 mm broad, dark brown. Seed roundish, brown, minutely puberulent, 4 mm long, 3-5 mm broad, with nearly circular scar.
Known from tropical and subtropical America: Florida and Gulf Coast areas of the Unites States, the West Indies, Middle America, and the northern half of South America; naturalized as an escape from cultivation in sundry parts of the Old World tropics. Other names frequently used are Rivea corymbosa and Ipomoea sidaefolia.
This plant, called coaxihuitl or "snake-plant" in the Náhuatl language of the Aztecs of Mesoamerica, produces a small seed called ololiuqui in Náhuatl, that was used by the Aztecs and other Mesoamerican Indians for religious and medicinal purposes. The seeds continued to be used today for divination among the Zapotec, Chinantecs, Mazatecs, and Mixtecs of Oaxaca, Mexico.
The seeds of this specie contain ergot alkaloids, with ergine being the main constituent of ololiuqui. Total alkaloid content of the seeds of Turbina Corymbosa is 0.012%.
