December 20, 2010

Beach Morning Glory

Ipomoea pes-caprae - commonly known as beach morning glory or goat's foot - is a tropical vine that grows readily on tough terrains and in open spaces, in the Philippines and elsewhere. 

Follow this link or the ones given by Andrea in the comments below for more information. Andrea's own blog, by the way, is a treasure trove of great plant and other information.

I captured this pretty flowering vine on our brief trip to Quezon last weekend. This first photo was taken on the beach at the resort we stayed.

 Quezon, 2010

The photos for this montage were taken on the beach you may have seen on my post a few days ago: the flowers are visible there if you enlarge the last photo. [Both images can be enlarged.]


I link with Today's Flower and Mosaic Monday.

PS. The information in this post has been corrected with huge thanks to blogger friend, Andrea. When researching this again, I also learned that the fresh leaf of this vine can be used to relieve jellyfish poisoning... and that is handy to know for those of us in the tropics who enjoy swimming in the warm sea.

19 comments:

msdewberry said...

Very pretty, love the soft blue colours. These look a bit bigger than the bluebells we grow here.
Merry Christmas!

Larry said...

An interesting plant and lovely photo... L

Kay L. Davies said...

Oh, isn't this pretty, Francisca? I love the photo of it growing on the beach. What a wonderful addition flowers would make to a beach scene.
Just dropped by your blog to say hi and see what you've been up to since we've been away. We've had a good trip in spite of an unforeseen blip in my health, but are now both anxious to get home to Lindy.
More later.
Luv, K

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

Soft and delicate looking flowers! You saw a LOT in your brief trip. Enjoyed sharing it!

Andrea said...

Hello Francisca, these are lovely photos as usual. However, this is not Ruellia tuberosa but Ipomoea sp. It is rather safer to say species or sp. rather than say it is I. turbinata or I. purpurea or etc. But most probably it is I. ces-caprae as it is the beach type morning glory. This is very common in sandy beaches not only here but also in very hot Dubai beach. You might like to view this http://www2.bishopmuseum.org/ethnobotanydb/moolelo.asp?search=pohuehue. There is something also near in morphology also in the same family as Ipomoea but of totally different genus, Argereia nervosa: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argyreia_nervosa. I have photos of this in the past both in my backyard and in Dubai beach. this: http://abagillon.blogspot.com/search/label/Breynia%20nervosa.

For us non-taxonomists, it really is easy to put a different ID and make a mistake, but it is easier for plant scientists to be near the truth. Thank you.

Vee said...

Lovely to see flowers whatever they are...I just learned from a friend and blogger that the Christmas cactus I thought I owned is actually an Easter cactus. Bloggers are a wealth of information!

Carolyn Ford said...

It's amazing how such a beautiful plant can produce such beautiful flowers and grow in the gritty sand...lovely shots, Francisca.

Unknown said...

i call this flower Morning Glory, too. we have a local name for this flower [in Ilonggo] but can't remember it right now.:p

Anita Johnson said...

What a beautiful sight for winter weary eyes! Such color, I love Morning Glories!

Molly Anne said...

Absolutely beautiful! I especially love that shot of it growing on the rocks. It seems like a determined little flower. And considering its relation to morning glory and how much of that I pulled up from everywhere it wasn't supposed to be this year...yes...very determined.

Andrea said...

hahaha you're welcome Francisca, and thank you for the generous words and link to my post. By the way, Ipomoea is the genus of sweet potato or 'kamote', so it actually is 'kamote' with a different surname!

cieldequimper said...

I'm surprised, it looks a lot like what we have on the Atlantic dunes, albeit in rosy white!

EG CameraGirl said...

It's such a pretty flower decorating the beach. Morning glories are such a successful species - there must be a version on every continent except Antarctica.

Lowell said...

Greetings, Francisca! This lovely little plant looks very familiar to me...I thought it might have grown wild in our yard at our old house in Ocala; either that, or I may have seen in on Florida's beaches...

Carol said...

Beautiful flowers! Great shots!

Gardening in a Sandbox said...

Such a pretty flower. I have seen similar here on the beach but they are a beach pea.

Gemma Wiseman said...

A very pretty beach flower! It looks delightful against the pale sands! And a gorgeous mosaic!

Míriam Luiza said...

As flores são lindas muito bem retratadas em fotos perfeitas! A montagem de fotos também ficou muito boa!

Unknown said...

I believe I've seen this plant on tropical beaches. It's lovely!