English: Bayhops; Bay-hops; Beach morning glory; Goat's foot
Region: pantropical; tropical Atlantic, Pacific, Indian Oceans.
Habitat: upper parts of beaches, sandy shores, on seaward slopes; endures salted air; along sea shores; sandy dunes and foreshores; inland, along roadsides and ditches, at elevations up to 800 metres; prefers sunny position, well-drained soil, tolerates worst soils imaginable; drought tolerant.
Content: saponin; alkaloid, glycoside, hydrocyanic acid; mucilage, a complex resin, volatile oils, fats, bitter pigments.
Use: ornamental; sand, dune, soil stabilizer; traditional medicine; fibre for ropes, tug-of-war, skipping ropes; emergency source of food; leaves, cooked and chopped, as a vegetable, famine food because, due to laxative effect; roots, starchy, cooked, laxative; revegetate mine spoil; scorched leaves for caulking the seams of canoes.
BotanyHerb; perennial; evergreen; very vigorous, creeping, or scrambling, vine; prostrate; forming extensive colonies along the sea shore, covering large areas.; perennial plant., the plant quickly forms a dense mat of low growth, completely covering the soil; 15 cm tall.
Root: woody rootstock; large, thick root that can be 3 metres long, 5 cm in diameter.
Stems: long-trailing; several metres in length; rooting at the nodes; glabrous; up to 30 metres long.
Leaves: large; two-lobed leaves; sparse,
Flowers: pink; fused petals, with a darker centre.
Fruit: capsule; containing 4 hairy seeds.
Seeds: float; unaffected by salt water; oceanic dispersal.