Ipomoea hederifolia (Scarlet Creeper)

Ipomoea hederifolia

Ipomoea hederifolia L.

Ipomoea coccinea L. var. hederifolia (L.) A. Gray

Scarlet Creeper, Scarlet Morning Glory, Star Ipomoea, Trompillo, Ivy-leaved Morning Glory

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Magnoliophyta	Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms
Class	Magnoliopsida	Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves
Subclass	Asteridae	A large class that encompasses asters
Order	Solanales	Potatoes, eggplants, tomatoes, peppers, tobacco, petunias, sweet potatoes, morning glories, many others
Family	Convolvulaceae	Bindweed or morning glory family
Genus	Ipomoea	From Greek ips, “a worm,” and homoios, “like,” because of the twining vine
Species	hederifolia	With leaves like those of ivy

About plant names...

Scarlet creeper is native to the southeastern United States, Mexico, Central America, and South America. It has become naturalized in many other parts of the world. It appears along roadsides, stream banks, old fields, thickets, and waste areas.

Plants: Vines, with thin hairless or slightly hairy stems, 3-4' (91-121 cm) tall, and may trail horizontally up to 10' (3 m).

Leaves: Alternate, heart shaped, often deeply lobed into 3 to as many as 7 segments, ¾-6" (2-15 cm) around, with smooth edges and sharp tips.

Flowers: Trumpet-shaped, in small clusters, with a 1½" (3.8 cm) long thin throat that flares suddenly to about 1" (2.5 cm) diameter at the end. The style and stigmas extend well beyond the flower. Pedicels (flower stalks) are ⅛-½" (5-15 mm) long. Blooms appear from July to November.

Fruits: ⅛-¼" (6-8 mm).

Online References:

Ipomoea hederifolia on floridata.com

Ipomoea hederifolia on ZipcodeZoo.com (Many photos)

Ipomoea hederifolia on the New England Wildflower Society’s GoBotany site

Ipomoea hederifolia on Wikimedia Commons (Photos and drawings)

Ipomoea hederifolia on climbers.lsa.umich.edu

Ipomoea hederifolia on SEINet—the Southwest Environmental Information Network

Ipomoea hederifolia at HEAR: the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project

Ipomoea hederifolia on JSTOR Plant Science