I. adenioides (Ron's Seeds)

These photos are after the bloom started closing, and hopefully I can get some photos of this flower open, it was open part ways and I decided to hand pollinate without thinking of taking a photo first. I did this because I noticed that there had been a subsequent bloom and it had fallen off the sepals, and I could tell that it was not pollinated, so decided to just go ahead and try hand pollination and hope for the best. I don't know if it took yet. The pistal is still on but the stamen has fallen off. If you look really close in the throat area, you can see the pink streak going down the tube.

Photo 1

Photo 2.. same flower

photo 3 tube measured

here are some buds, you can see the sepals are really contorted and twisted, the buds come right off the main stem.. I've seen this type of bud before but cannot remember on which plants...where they bloom right off the stem.. I believe it is Kawaii that grows the flowers right off the stem, only this one, elongates as it sends out the bud.

This plant has not formed a caudex yet, but has a thick stem, which I'll photograph tomorrow.


edited to say: The sepals don't look contorted in this photo at all, but I swear it ... they are before they straighten out like that and make a liar out of me..lol

This message was edited Aug 6, 2008 9:21 PM

Here is the plant, it is about 5 feet tall, one main stem and a couple of small branches starting to go vertical..

My computer is not reading my camera card, so .. I have to upload all the images to Picasa and I finally figured out how to get them from there.. so you guys be patient with me.. please....

Great photos Antoinette...

I'm going to venture that this is a night blooming species,because although there are some night blooming Ipomoea with short tubes,so far,all of the Ipomoea species that I have encountered with very long tubes have always been night flowering...

The tubes evolve in relation to what is going to be able to get to the bottom of the tube in order to reach the nectar...something like a honeybee is not likely to be able to navigate such a long thin tube...

The only day flowering species with very long tubes would have to be pollinated almost exclusively by hummermoths,butterflies or hummingbirds...

Looking forward to seeing what time of day these actually open...although being grown out in an environment that is somehow very different from the native habitat of a species can cause it to flower out of sync...sometimes...

The sepals are relatively long,which is unusual for Ipomoea night bloomers...even though it seems to make good protective sense to have long sepals with such a long tube...

So far,what we are seeing is single flowers on relatively short pedicels (in relation to the flower length)...

The visual documentation is consistent with some descriptions for Ipomoea adenioides...some of the questions remaing are

1) Is the plant photographed here Ipomoea adenioides (?)

2) Are there subtaxa of Ipomoea adenioides with significant differences in tube lengths (?)

3) Is the literature on Ipomoea adenioides consistently accurate (?)

...or do some of the descriptions actually refer to other species that require taxonomic clarification


Questions posed and to be explored...seeking yields the results...

Thanks for your contributions towards the answers...

TTY,...

Ron

P.S. - There are mentions of a pink throat,a pink flowered form and a pale yellow form of Ipomoea adenioides...

I'm always looking...

I forgot to mention that the leaves are silvery green/grey, you can probably tell from the photo, that is exactly how they look, even as a seedling the leaves looked like that. Also, the seed was marked I. adenioides bush type white or pink.. so this was the white version. I moved it one foot down from the wooden bench it was on that made it even with the 6 ft rock wall. Hopefully that did not disturb it and cause anything to go wrong.

Is there any mention or reference to the color of the leaves or shape of the leaves? They are very unique.

Oh, P.S. here, there are lots of hummingbird moths here, at least a dozen or more hummingbirds and lots of other butterflies and moths.. so maybe one of those will pollinate some.. the macrorhiza got a pod on it's own but I am hand pollinating all the rest, last year it only had two flowers, this year it has over 100 buds, so I am hopeful that this one will make some seeds.. the other two tubers rotted..

A - The I. adenioides is AWESOME!!! Is this plant an actual bush form? I am amazed at the long flower tube! Does it have a fragrance? Where does this plant originate from? Gosh! So fascinating!! Please keep us posted on the progress. And I hope that moving it didn't disturb it too much. Probably not. Thanks for sharing this special plant with all of us! :-)

I sure will Becky, this was started from seed in Feb 2007 and it hasn't made a bush yet, it is still young.. just one stem so far. If it has fragrance, it might be released when it first opens, I stuck my nose in there when I saw it but did not detect any fragrance at that time, but it may have been opened for awhile or overnight for all I know.

It almost looks like a succulent because the leaves look somewhat thick. (Maybe I need new glasses ...)

Does this plant come from South America? Rain forest?

Definitely a hummingbird moth, butterfly, or hummingbird nectar plant! I don't know any other creatures that would have a tongue that long to feed from it and to pollinate it. Really cool!!!

"Is there any mention or reference to the color of the leaves or shape of the leaves? They are very unique."

The leaves on the plant posted are consistent with many descriptions...

The leaves on the Ipomoea adenioides are new for the Forum viewers due to the fact that this species is still relatively rare in cultivation,although the leaves are to be found on a large number of species that have not as yet entered into cultivation...

I'm also curious to know if it has any scent or fragrance at any point in the life of the flower (?)...


UHH OOHHH (!)...Becky has spotted The Plant (!)...

starting to 'machine gun' questions...

brow breaking out in a sweat (!)...brain oxygen levels getting low (!)...(labored breathing !)...only survival mechanism = tossing a few 'bones'...i.e.,

Ipomoea adenioides is native to the same areas of Africa that Ipomoea albivenia is to be found...

and until 'next time'...

TTY,...

Ron

P.S. - How long are the tongues of nectar seeking bats (?).. anybody know (?)...

What a gorgeous bloom.

Ron - Yep! I've spotted this thread ... there is no rest for you now! LOL!

This plant hails from Africa ... interesting ... I would think that it would be found in some of the rain forest regions ... I was thinking rain forest because of pollinators/nectar lovers. Lots of hummers in South America ...

I too was thinking there might be a bat species ... I do remember hearing about nectar/fruit eating bats. Having a tongue length for this bloom though, I am checking ... African bats

http://www.batsgauteng.org.za/SABats.htm

None with long tongues in African documented. BUT ...

Check this out, in Mexico...

http://www.nsrl.ttu.edu/tmot1/choemexi.htm

Looks like this bat can give hummingbirds a run for the money on how fast of a rate they burn sugar:
http://www.scientificblogging.com/news/fastest_sugar_burning_mammal_on_earth_long_tongued_bats

Are we sure I. adenioides comes from Africa?

This message was edited Aug 7, 2008 8:35 AM

Ipomoea adenioides definitely originated in Africa...

The Ipomoea adenioides may be pollinated by an African Hawkmoth
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawk_moth

Hummingbirds
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hummingbird
once populated the Old World
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1200/is_19_165/ai_n6110294?tag=untagged
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3691169.stm
http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:heCAN0WWM3EJ:www.eurekalert.org/features/kids/2004-05/aaft-woh020805.php+hummingbirds+in+Africa&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=7&gl=us&lr=lang_en

The New World nectarivorous birds are not a unique evolutionary event, because there are ecological analogs of hummingbird and hummingbird-flowers on other continents:
the nectarivorous sunbirds of southern Africa and Asia
the honeyeaters of Australia
the honeycreepers of the Hawaiian Islands. UCLA

Cape sugarbird
http://chandra.as.utexas.edu/~kormendy/SouthAfrica/CapeSugarbirdM-4517ss.jpg

Southern double-collared sunbird
http://chandra.as.utexas.edu/~kormendy/SouthAfrica/SDoubleColSunbird-4580ss.jpg

White-bellied sunbird
http://chandra.as.utexas.edu/~kormendy/SouthAfrica/WhiteBellySunbird-3501ss.jpg


Amethyst sunbird
http://chandra.as.utexas.edu/~kormendy/SouthAfrica/AmethystSunbird-3503ss.jpg

Looking forward to any updated photos and information on the flowering of the Ipomoea adenioides...

TTY,...

Ron

Ron - Thanks for sharing that info. The sugarbird and the different sunbirds are beautiful! Africa is seriously underrated!! I didn't know that the Hawkmoths have such a long proboscis! They are night feeders, so it would seem very likely that the Ipomoea adenioides is a night bloomer.

Antoinette is going to be off line for two weeks starting tomorrow. She may be busy moving furniture out of the rooms today that are going to be tiled. She hasn't posted much the past day or two. So we may have to wait on more bloom photos and information. :-(

this bloomed at about 9 PM last night, it started off at about 8, then within the hour it was completely open.

at about 8:30.

same time different view

open

looks just like the photo in the Link Ron provided.

Antoinette - How beautiful!!! I am not surprised that it is a night bloomer. What time does the sun go down in your area currently?

4. photo

It went down about 7:30 (I think)..

5. It also had a very faint musky fragrance. The pistal and stamens were about 1 1/2 inches down the throat, I had to stick the brush way down there to get at the stigma and pollen.

6. measured

7. measured again

8. whole plant is about 5' tall and one stem, but has very small lateral branches growing.. all the blossoms are on the main stem.. very slow grower.

9.. the bottom stem almost 1/2 inch thick.

bract stem that was left on the first flower I missed, at first I thought it was a sepal that was left, but they are the bracts.

Looks like the pollination took and the first pod is formed, don't know if you can see the twisted sepals, but they were almost all that way last night.. very contorted. I may have to hand pollinate each flower.

10. sideview

here you can see thru the tube the shadow of the stamen and pistle with the lighting and how far down they are. If I call the plant parts by the wrong name, please feel free to let me know, because sometimes I forget the part names. (Oldtimer's)

Measured at 8 PM

you can see some of the contorted sepals in this photo..

Last one.. will see you guys in about two weeks.. computer will be shut down tonight.. I'll check back here before we disconnect.

Great photos A of a beautiful flower.

Another beautiful vine to lust for LOL nice one, Antoinette!!

Joseph

Thank you Jackie,

Thank you Joseph,

I sure wish there were no whiteflies though... they are driving me mad!!!

I am amazed at how many MG "bushes" there are. Really cool to see such types!

A - Your bush will probably just start taking off now that it is putting on a show! :-) It's really a very lovely cultivar!!!! So unique!

Antoinette - The photos are wonderful...thank you for such nice clear views and for knowing exactly what parts to capture...

What a beautiful flower...(!)

A Morning Glory Bush Moonflower...(!)

The flower is particularly interesting in that the corolla has semi-separated petals that are reflexed very similar to some types of lilies...the flower seems to be about 3 inches in diameter,although the long tube adds to the aesthetic attraction...

The sepals on the very early flowerbuds seem to be quasi-spiraling around the bud to protect the top area,then the sepals straighten as the flower emerges and during the time that the corolla is actually in full bloom,then after the corolla has dropped off the sepals once again twist to enclose and protect the top of the ovary...

I have added several selected photos to the PlantFiles and as is my traditional historical habit of never removing any copyright of any type whatsoever from any photos, I have also categorically made specific mention in the caption that the photos are courtesy of Gourd...

Looking forward to any further developments on this particular species...e.g., the development of the seedpods and how the sepals may change relative to the developing seedpods...

A photo view looking straight down into the tube would be a worthwhile reference...also interested to see if there is any color to be noted on any of the stamens or pistil parts...

Thanks again for sharing your eye-widening photography...

TTY,...

Ron

Well, got the computer connected this afternoon.

The seed pods are not staying on the plant.. I have a feeling the right moth or hummer is not around or Bats.. perhaps even my hand pollinating is not good either, and I don't know if it could be bugs too.

It is still blooming at a rate of about one flower a night. All the I. nils bit the dust and a couple of purpureas are alive at this time, only the few species left too. so, this has been a horrible year here with the mgs.. the farmers around here are using sevin to kill all the bugs and other sprays that I don't know what is contained in them, but I don't use chemicals or sevin because it kills the bees.. so, the bugs are coming over to my house.. I have to rethink how I'm going to protect the MGs and other plants that are dear to my heart next year.

A.

A - Nice to see you are back and connected to the cyberworld! :-)

I'm sorry to hear that you've had a less than stellar year growing MGs and other plants. It very well could be the pesticides. I think that I am having a few problems for the same reason. My next door neighbor has her yard sprayed every month. Ironically, my yard looks better than hers currently. Go figure! And I don't use pesticides. :-)