Plant Name
Scientific Name: Ipomoea triloba
Synonym: Ipomoea krugii
Common Names: Littlebell, Little Bell, Three-lobe Morning-glory, Three-lobed Morning-glory, Aiea Morning-glory
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Annual
Growth Habit: Vine, Herb/Forb
Hawaii Native Status: Introduced. This naturalized plant is native to the tropical Americas, but it is now found worldwide in the tropics.
Flower Color: Pinkish purple, Pink, White
Height: Up to 10 feet (3 m) long if uncoiled, but the plants are usually less than half this in height.
Description: The small, funnel-shaped, 5-lobed, pentagonal flowers are single or in clusters and have a dark magenta-purple throat and 5 green, hairless to sparsely hairy, narrowly egg-shaped sepals with finely fringed edges. The flowers are followed by rounded, bristle-haired seed capsules with a small, pointed tip. The leaves have a heart-shaped leaf base and are green, hairless or sparsely hairy, alternate, and entire, coarsely toothed, or deeply 3-lobed. The stems are slender, prostrate or twining, hairless or sparsely hairy, and green to brownish in color.
Here in Hawaii, Littlebell is a bit weedy and grows at lower elevations in dry to moderately moist grasslands and disturbed grassy areas like old pastures, fields, and roadsides.
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Asteridae
Order: Solanales
Family: Convolvulaceae – Morning-glory family
Genus: Ipomoea L. – morning-glory
Species: Ipomoea triloba L. – littlebell
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