Common Name: Alamo vine
Alamo vine is a vine of American origin, which has been naturalized in India. The plant has a thin coiling stem and rambles over nearby vegetation’s and hedges: it can spread over 3-4 meters in length. The stem of the plant is covered with long hairs and has rusty patches. The Leafs are simple and alternatively arranged (sometimes seen oppositely arranged!) and palmately deeply lobed into 5-7 sections. The leafing nodes are apart from each other by nearly 15 cm. The leaf stalk measure around 5.5 cm. The leaf margin is dentate. The central lobe of the leaf is the longest and measure nearly 6 cm. The flowers are produced on the leaf axis; generally one to two flowering buds are produced on the axis. The flower has 5 petals united to form a bell shaped flower. The flowers are white in color with shade of purple and are very attractive. The fruit is in the form of capsule, seeds are black in color. The plant colonizes by rooting and nodes and also by seeds- which are disbursed by explosion. Alamo vine is commonly seen in Coimbatore district around fallow lands and village hedges. The flowers remain open for a very short period during the afternoon time.
