Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Let's go back to Oahu for a moment, shall we? 

Here we are at the lagoon by the Hilton Hawaiian Village.  And what's that growing in the sand?  Ipomoea pes-caprae or beach morning glory, or goat's foot vine. 





These are pretty sad looking iPhone pictures (taken with a poorly abused iPhone, no less), but it's impossible not to appreciate how this plant thrives in the shallow sandy soil.   A member of the Convolvulaceae family, it's related to the morning glory I blogged about here


  

This plant can be found on the beaches of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans.  It's tolerant to salt and wind even in its infancy - the seeds of this plant float on the water and are unaffected by the briny waters.  Ipomoea literally means 'wormlike' - referring to the plant's coiled flower bud.  Pes-caprae as you may have guessed, means 'goat's foot' and refers to the leaf shape, which resembles a cloven hoof.

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