[Convolvulus cairicus L.; Ipomoea cairica var. hederacea H. Hallier; I. c. var. lineariloba (Hillebr.) Degener & Ooststr.; I. coptica sensu St. John, non (L.) Roth ex Roem. & Schult.; /. dissecta sensu Hillebr., non Willd.; I. palmata Forssk.; I. tuberculata Roem. & Schult. var. lineariloba Hillebr.; I. t. var. trichosperma Hillebr.]
(nat?) Koali ‘ai, koali, koali ‘ai ‘ai (Niihau), koali lau manamana, kowali, pa ‘ali 7, ivy-leaved morning glory Vines; stems twining or sometimes pros-trate, herbaceous but woody toward base, up to 4 m or more long, smooth or muricate, glabrous or rarely villous at nodes.
Leaf blades chartaceous, ovate to orbicular in outline, 3-10 cm long and wide, palmately divided, usually to base into 5-7 lobes, the lobes lanceolate to ovate or elliptic, 3-5 cm long, apex acute or obtuse and mucronulate, outer lobes sometimes bifid, glabrous, petioles up to ca. 2h as long as blades, pseudostipules present. Flowers 1 to numerous in lax dichasia, peduncles 5-80 mm long, pedicels 12-30 mm long; sepals ovate, 4-6.5 mm long, outer ones slightly shorter, glabrous, ± verrucose, margins scarious, apex obtuse to acute, mucronulate; corolla purple, bluish purple, or white with a purple center, funnelform, (3-)4.5-6 cm long. Capsules brown, subglobose, 1-1.2cm long, glabrous. Seeds black to tan, subglobose to ovoid, 4-6 mm long, densely short-tomentose, sometimes with long silky hairs along the margins. [2n = 30.] Native to tropical Africa and Asia; in Hawai‘i apparently a naturalized species in primarily open, dry, usually rocky, often disturbed areas, from near sea level up to 670 m, on all of the main islands except not documented from Maui. First recorded in 1819 by Gaudichaud-Beaupre (St. John & Tit- comb, 1983).
Hillebr and (1888) treated this species as indigenous and common in his day on all of the islands. However, it could have been introduced by the Hawaiians, who used its tuberous roots as famine food.
Three artificial varieties have been recog-nized in Hawaii based on depth of leaf lob- ing and width of the lobes.