ipomoea

ipomoea
/ip'euh mee"euh, uy'pay-/, n.
1. any plant belonging to the genus Ipomoea, of the morning glory family, certain species of which are cultivated for their large, showy flowers.
2. the dried root of certain varieties of plants of this genus, yielding a resin sometimes used as a cathartic.
[ < NL (Linnaeus) < Gk ip- (s. of îps) worm + hómoia, neut. pl. of HÓMOIOS like; see HOMEO-]

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▪ plant genus
also spelled  Ipomaea 
 genus of about 500 mostly warm-climate trees, shrubs, and twining and trailing herbaceous plants of the family Convolvulaceae with funnel-shaped flowers.

      The genus Ipomoea is important to humans for the beauty of its flowers and for the tuberous roots of two species. sweet potato (I. batatas), a perennial, forms roots as it trails along the ground. The edible “potatoes” are enlarged food-storage portions of the roots. Its leaves are oval to lobed, and the 5-cm (2-inch) flowers are pink to rose violet. It probably originated in tropical South America. Jalap (I. purga) is an upright herb with solitary, reddish flowers, native in tropical Mexico. Its apple-sized, turnip-shaped roots are the source of an ancient purgative, still in use. Heavenly blue morning glory (I. violacea)—a twining, perennial vine, usually cultivated as a garden annual—bears clusters of blue to purplish, sometimes white, flowers, 12 cm across, among heart-shaped leaves. It is native to tropical America. This vine bears seeds containing the alkaloids d-lysergic and d-isolysergic acids (similar to LSD), and the seeds are used traditionally among Mexico's Zapotec Indians for ceremonial and curative purposes. Common morning glory (I. purpurea), an annual vine that bears heart-shaped leaves and purple, pink, or white flowers about 7 cm (3 inches) across, has become a troublesome weed in parts of southeastern North America. One of the largest flowering ipomoeas is the moonflower (I. bona-nox, or Calonyction aculeatum), a rampant, perennial climber with 15-cm (6-inch) white, fragrant, night-blooming flowers. It contains a milky juice used for coagulating Castilla rubber. Bush morning glory (I. leptophylla), with tuberous roots and erect branches to about 120 cm (47 inches) tall, bears 7.5-cm purple or pink flowers. It is native to central North America. The morning glory tree, or casahuate (I. arborescens), is one of several similar tropical American tree and shrub morning glories.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Ipomoea — is also an album by the ethereal wave band Love Spirals Downwards, and a short story by John Rackham, published by Ace Books in 1969. Ipomoea Ipomoea carnea, called canudo de pita in Brazil …   Wikipedia

  • Ipomoea — Ipomoea,   Gattung der Windengewächse mit etwa 400 meist im tropischen Amerika beheimateten Arten. Gartenzierpflanze ist u. a. die einjährige Prunk oder Trichterwinde (Ipomoea purpurea) in zahlreichen Formen. Ein weiterer Gattungsvertreter ist… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • ipomoea — [ip΄ə mē′ə, ī΄pōmē′ə] n. [ModL < Gr ips (gen. ipos), a worm + homoios, like: see SAME] any of a genus (Ipomoea) of twining or creeping plants of the morning glory family, with funnel shaped flowers and heart shaped or lobed leaves, including… …   English World dictionary

  • Ipomoea — Ip o*m[oe] a ([i^]p [ o]*m[=e] [.a]), n. [NL. Named, according to Linn[ae]us, from Gr. i ps, ipo s, a bindweed [which it is not], and o moios like. Gray.] (Bot.) A genus of twining plants with showy monopetalous flowers, including the morning… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Ipomoea — L. (Trichterwinde), Gattung der Konvolvulazeen, windende, aufrechte oder niederliegende Kräuter, selten Sträucher, mit ganzen oder gelappten, fuß , hand oder fiederförmig eingeschnittenen Blättern, achselständigen, sehr verschieden gefärbten,… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Ipomoea — L., Trichterwinde, Pflanzengattg. der Konvolvulazeen, windende Kräuter der trop. oder wärmern gemäßigten Zone, mit glocken oder trichterförmiger, meist schön gefärbter Blumenkrone; I. batātas Poir. liefert eßbare Knollen (s. Batate), I. purga… …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

  • Ipomoea — Prunkwinden Ipomoea purga, Illustration aus Koehler 1887 Systematik Klasse: Dreifurchenp …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Ipomoea — Ipomée Ipomées …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Ipomoea —   Ipomoea …   Wikipedia Español

  • Ipomoea — A plant genus of the family Convolvulaceae including the morning glory. [L. ipomea] I. rubrocoerulea praecox the seeds contain lysergic acid amide, isolysergic acid amide, chanoclavine, elymoclavine, and other ergot (indole) alkaloids; ingestion …   Medical dictionary

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