Plant: Annual or tap-rooted perennial twining vine; STEMS slender and procumbent, twining at tips, glabrous Leaves: petioles 1-3 cm long; blades palmately 5-11-parted, 1-8 cm long, 1-6 cm wide, glabrous to remotely setose, the segments lanceolate, linear, elliptic, obovate, rhombic, rarely filiform INFLORESCENCE: 1-3 flowered cymes; peduncles 0.5-6.5 cm long, equalling or exceeding the leaves; bracteoles subulate, 1-2.5 mm long Flowers: on pedicels 6-18 mm long, erect in fruit; sepals unequal, 4-14 mm long, glabrous or hirsute on the 3 main veins and along the margins; corolla funnelform, 1.5-4.5 cm long, purple, glabrous; stamens 8-20 mm long, the filaments covered with orange trichomes, the anthers 3 mm long; ovary conic, 1 mm long, 2-locular, glabrous, the styles 19-20 mm long Fruit: FRUITS ellipsoid to ovoid depending on the number of seeds, 3-5 mm long, with an apiculum 5 mm or more long. SEEDS 1-4, 5-6 mm long, ovoid, black and gray mottled, minutely appressed-tomentose REFERENCES: Austin, Daniel F. 1998. J. Ariz. - Nev. Acad. Sci. Convolvulaceae 30(2): 61.
Duration: Annual Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Annual or tap-rooted perennial, twining vine slender and procumbent, glabrous. Leaves: Petioles 1-3 cm long; blades 5-11 parted, 1-8 cm long, 1-6 cm wide, glabrous to remotely setose, lanceolate segments, linear, elliptic, to obovate or rhombic. Flowers: Pedicels 6-18 mm long, erect in fruit; sepals unequal, 4-14 cm long, purple, glabrous or hirsute on 3 main veins; corolla funnelform, 1.5-4.5 cm long, purple, glabrous; stamens 8-20 mm long, filaments orangish; conic ovary. Fruits: Ellipsoid to ovoid depending on number of seeds, 3-5 mm long. Ecology: Found on plains among desert scrub from 3,500-5,000 ft (1067-1524 m); flowers August-September. Distribution: s AZ; south to c MEX. Notes: Distinguished by the thinly-dissected, palmate leaves; the purple corolla 1.5-4.5 cm long and the glabrous to short-hairy calyx (the most similar is I. costellata which has glabrous calyces and pinkish flws always <1.5 cm). One variety found in the region, var. leptotoma. Is annual with fibrous roots. Ethnobotany: Unknown, other species in this genera have uses. Etymology: Ipomoea comes from Greek ips, a worm and homoios, like, referring to plant-s habit, while ternifolia comes from Latin terni, three, and folia for leaf. Synonyms: None Editor: SBuckley 2010, FSCoburn 2015