Evolvulus alsinoides

Evolvulus alsinoides, commonly known as dwarf morning-glory and slender dwarf morning-glory, is flowering plant from the family Convolvulaceae. It has a natural pantropical distribution encompassing tropical and warm-temperate regions of Australasia, Indomalaya, Polynesia, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Americas.[1]

Evolvulus alsinoides
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Solanales
Family: Convolvulaceae
Genus: Evolvulus
Species:
E. alsinoides
Binomial name
Evolvulus alsinoides
(Linn.) Linn.
Varieties
  • E. a. var. alsinoides
  • E. a. var. decumbens
  • E. a. var. rotundifolia

Description
Flower detail

It is a herbaceous plant, annual or perennial, with more or less 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.

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 may become a weed in some situations. It is one of the plants included in Dasapushpam, the ten sacred flowers of Kerala.

Chemistry

This herb used in traditional medicine of East Asia for its purported psychotropic and nootropic properties.[2] although such claims are not medically verified.

Chemical compounds isolated from E. alsinoides include scopoletin, umbelliferone, scopolin and 2-methyl-1,2,3,4-butanetetrol.[3]

References
  1. "Evolvulus alsinoides (L.) L." Archived from the original on 6 September 2017. Retrieved 25 February 2014.
  2. Amritpal Singh (2008). "Review of Ethnomedicinal Uses and Pharmacology of Evolvulus alsinoides Linn". Ethnobotanical Leaflets. 12: 734–740.
  3. Cervenka F, Koleckar V, Rehakova Z, Jahodar L, Kunes J, Opletal L, Hyspler R, Jun D, Kuca K (2008). "Evaluation of natural substances from Evolvulus alsinoides L. with the purpose of determining their antioxidant potency". J Enzyme Inhib Med Chem. 23 (4): 574–578. doi:10.1080/14756360701674421. PMID 18666003.
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