Volume 10 > Part 3 > Year 2010 > Page 437 > Convolvulaceae > Merremia

6. Merremia hirta (L.) Merr.wfo-0001299030

Philipp. J. Sci. 7: 244. 1912; Ooststr., Blumea 3: 307. 1939; Fl. Males. ser. 1, 4: 442. 1953; Kerr, Fl. Siam. Enum. 3(2): 4. 1954; Songkhla & Khunwasi, Thai Forest Bull. (Bot.) 20: 44. 1993; R.C.Fang & Staples in C.Y.Wu & P.H.Raven, Fl. China 16: 294. 1995.— Convolvulus hirtus L., Sp. Pl. 1: 159. 1753. Fig. 32; Plate LI: 2.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Herbaceous twiners or creepers; stems rooting, 1–3 m, spreading hirsute to glabrous. Leaves linear, oblong-lanceolate, ovate-oblong, or ovate, 1.9–6 by 0.5–2.5 cm, sparsely appressed hirsute or glabrous, base truncate, rounded, slightly auriculate to hastate, margins entire, apex obtuse, acute or slightly emarginate and mucronulate; petiole 0.1–0.5(–2) cm. Inflorescences 1–4(–8)-flowered; peduncle filiform, 1.5–3.5(–7.5) cm, glabrous or sparsely pubescent basally; bracts persistent, ovate, 1–2 mm, glabrous; pedicel 5–10 mm, glabrous. Flower: sepals elliptic or elliptic-oblong, unequal, outer 2 sepals 3–5 mm, inner 3 sepals ca 6 mm, exposed margins purplish, apex obtuse; corolla broadly funnelform, 0.9–1.1(–1.8) cm, pale yellow or whitish, midpetaline bands dark-veined, glabrous outside; stamens included, filaments dilated and pubescent basally; pistil included, ovary glabrous. Capsule broadly ovoid to globose, 6–7 mm, thinly papery, glabrous. Seeds trigonous-ellipsoid, ca 3 mm, brownish black, glabrous or sparsely floccose at margin and hilum.

Thailand : NORTHERN: Chiang Mai, Phitsanulok; NORTH-EASTERN: Loei, Mukdahan; EASTERN: Nakhon Ratchasima, Buri Ram, Surin, Roi Et, Ubon Ratchathani; SOUTH-WESTERN: Kanchanaburi, Prachuap Khiri Khan; CENTRAL: Nakhon Nayok; SOUTH-EASTERN: Prachin Buri, Chachoengsao, Rayong; PENINSULAR: Surat Thani, Krabi, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Songkhla, Narathiwat.

Distribution : India (type), Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, N Australia.

Ecology : Disturbed ground, roadsides, fallow fields, rice paddies, deciduous dipterocarp forests, evergreen forests, and secondary vegetation, 0–550 m alt. Flowering: January, February, April, October–December; fruiting: January, February, October–December.

Vernacular : Chingcho nuan (จิงจ้อนวล); chingcho (จิงจ้อ)(Narathiwat).

Notes: Extraordinarily variable in leaf blade shape and base, but rather constant in floral characters; the purplish margined sepals are a good field character.