Japanese name: ノアサガオ（野朝顔） Scientific name:Ipomoea indica
[Overview]
A climbing perennial.
It grows on seashores, along roadsides near human settlements, at forest edges and similar places.
The stems sometimes grow more than 10 m long.
The leaves are alternate, either deeply divided into 3 lobes or simple and ovate to round, with a pointed tip and a heart-shaped base.
The flowers are blue-purple, funnel-shaped, about 10 cm across, with the upper part spreading and shallowly divided into 5 lobes, each lobe bearing a reddish purple line.
In some plants the whole flower takes on a crimson tinge from afternoon to evening.
The flowers wither in a day.
The sepals are not recurved and have sharply pointed tips.
[Cultivation]
Because it is self-incompatible it does not produce seed, and it reproduces vegetatively.
[Notes]
It is so vigorous and grows so luxuriantly that in the Ryukyu Islands "Asagao" is said to mean this species.
The plant sold under the name "Ocean Blue" is said to be a mutant of this species, but this is not clear.
