Grape-leaf Wood Rose

Grape-leaf Wood Rose, originally uploaded by kadavoor.

Merremia vitifolia

Synonyms: Convolvulus vitifolius, Ipomoea vitifolia

Grape-leaf Wood Rose is large twinning or prostrate herb. The stems are purplish when old, and grow to 4 m long. Leaf blade is circular in outline, 5-18 by 5-16 cm, cordate at the base, palmately 5-7-lobed. Flower-buds narrow-ovoid, acute. Flower tube is funnel shaped -6 cm long, glabrous, bright yellow, paler towards the base. Anthers spirally twisted. Found both in regions with a feeble and in those with a rather strong dry season, in open grasslands, thickets, and hedges, along fields, in teak-forests, along edges of secondary forests, on river-banks and waysides. Grape-leaf Wood Rose is native to India and Ceylon to Indo-China and the Andamans, throughout Malaysia.

Taken at Anakulam, Kerala, India

www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Grape-leaf Wood Rose.html