Neeli Bel / Railway Creeper
Ipomoea cairica
Also known as Caito Morning Glory, Railroad-Creeper, Mile-A-Minute
- Habit
- Liana
- Found in India
- Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra & more
- Flowering
- Throughout the year
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Ipomoea cairica
- Genus
- Ipomoea
- Family
- Convolvulaceae
- Habit
- Liana
- Habitat
- Dry and moist deciduous forests, also in the plains
- Habitat type
- Forest
- Native to
- Mediterranean
- Distribution
- Old & New World
- Found in India
- Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Mizoram, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Manipur, Puducherry, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chandigarh, Delhi, Nagaland, Tripura
- Flowering & fruiting
- Throughout the year
- Conservation status
- Not Evaluated (NE)
Leaf characters
- Leaf shape
- OvaterecordedEgg-shaped, broader near the base.“The leaf blade is ovate to circular in outline, 3 to 10 cm long and 6 to 9 cm wide.” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Leaf surface
- GlabrousrecordedSmooth, hairless.“A hairless, slim climber with bulbous roots and lignescented base, its leaves are stalked with 2 to 6 cm long petioles.” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Typical of the family
- Arrangement
- Alternate
Characters marked “recorded” are for Neeli Bel itself; the rest are typical of the Convolvulaceae family.
Flower & fruit characters
- Flower colour
- Pinkrecorded
- Flower arrangement
- CymerecordedA branched cluster where the central/terminal flower opens first.“The lavender-coloured inflorescences are one to a cyme.” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Fruit type
- CapsulerecordedA dry fruit from a fused ovary that splits open at maturity to release seeds.“The fruits are spherical capsules approximately 1 cm in diameter containing one or two hairy seeds.” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Typical of the family
- Flower symmetry
- Actinomorphic (radially symmetrical)
- Inflorescence
- Cyme
- Fruit
- Capsule
Characters marked “recorded” are for Neeli Bel itself; the rest are typical of the Convolvulaceae family — flowering plants only.
Local Names
- Hindi
- नीली बेल Neeli Bel
- Malayalam
- ഉദയമലരി
- Marathi
- गारवेल Garvel, भोवरा Bhovara
About Neeli Bel
Railway Creeper (Ipomoea cairica) is a woody climber in the Convolvulaceae family. In India it has been recorded in Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and 25 other states. It grows in dry and moist deciduous forests, also in the plains. It flowers and fruits through much of the year.
Uses
In practice it is grown for parts that are eaten, long used in traditional medicine and planted as an ornamental. Those medicinal uses are traditional attributions, not medical advice.
Convolvulaceae
Morning glory family
Neeli Bel belongs to the Convolvulaceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
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