Ipomoea brasiliensis (Railroad Vine)

CONVOLVULACEAE

Ipomoea brasiliensis (Linnaeus) Sweet. Common name: Railroad Vine, Goat’s-foot, Bay Hops, Bay Winders. Phenology: Jan-Dec. Habitat: Ocean beaches, dunes. Distribution: E. NC (Carteret County), SC (Beaufort, Horry, Charleston, Colleton, and Georgetown counties), south to s. FL, west to TX, and widespread on tropical and subtropical shores of the New World (se. United States, West Indies, Pacific and Atlantic coasts of Central America and South America), and Old World (Atlantic and Indian Ocean coasts of Africa). The records in the Carolinas may reflect the periodic arrival of sea-borne seeds.

Origin/Endemic status: Native

Taxonomy Comments: Our taxon, often treated as a variety or subspecies (see synonymy) of the Old World I. pes-caprae, is strongly genetically differentiated from I. pes-caprae (despite occurring widely in both the New World and the Old World and in proximity to I. pes-caprae); "the two subspecies are clearly differentiated genetically and the genetic differences between them were considerably high…, this suggests that the two subspecies may have cryptic ocean barriers that prevent migration by sea dispersal between the distribution ranges, and/or they have experienced historical differentiation that caused local adaptation to different environmental factors in each region" (Miryeganeh et al. 2014). The evidence supports species rank, which is used here.

Synonymy ⓘ: = Ipomoea pes-caprae (L.) R.Br. ssp. brasiliensis (L.) Ooststr. — Fl6, FNA14, K4, WH3, Wood et al (2020b); = Ipomoea pes-caprae (L.) R.Br. var. emarginata Hallier f. — Tx; = n/a — RAB; < Ipomoea pes-caprae (L.) R.Br. — Bah, GW2, Meso4.2, Mex, Pa, S, WI, Wood et al (2020b); Convolvulus brasiliensis Linnaeus. Basionym: Convolvulus brasiliensis L. 1753