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tropical speedwell
Evolvulus alsinoides
Evolvulus alsinoides, commonly known as dwarf morning glory and slender dwarf morning glory, is a flowering plant from the family Convolvulaceae. In Indian ayurveda, it is commonly known as Visnukranta, Vishnukranti or Shankhavel. It has a natural pantropical distribution encompassing tropical and warm-temperate regions of Australasia, Indomalaya, Polynesia, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Americas.
It was first described in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus as Convolvulus alsinoides. In 1762, he transferred it to the new genus, Evolvulus.
From the article Evolvulus alsinoides on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
It is a herbaceous plant, annual or perennial with numerous prostrate or ascending stems, slender, with appressed and spreading hairs. The leaves, petiolate or subsessile, are 0.7 to 2.5 cm long and 5 to 10 mm long. The flowers are isolated or grouped in pauciflorous cymes, borne by filiform peduncles, 2.5 to 3.5 cm long. The calyx is formed by villous, lanceolate sepals 3 to 4 mm long. The rounded corolla, with pentameric symmetry, blue in color, rarely white, is 7 to 10 mm in diameter. The stamens, with filiform filaments, are united at the base of the corolla tube. The ovary, glabrous, is surmounted by two free styles. The fruit is a globular capsule, with four valves, generally containing four seeds that are black and smooth.
Range & habitat
The species inhabits a wide range of habitats, from marshland and wet forests to deserts. A number of varieties and subspecies are recognised. It is one of the plants included in Dasapushpam, the ten sacred flowers of Kerala.
Wikipedia: “Habitat”
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
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In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Evolvulus alsinoides in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 162913.