A foundation monograph of Ipomoea (Convolvulaceae) in the New World

Fieldwork
The first author has had many years of fieldwork during which he has collected Ipomoea. However, it is only since about 2008 that he has made careful efforts to collect, photograph and study the genus. Most of his fieldwork in South America has been carried out in Bolivia but important visits have been made to Argentina with the help of Hector Keller, to Brazil with the help of Luciano de Queiroz and to Paraguay with the help of Rosa Degen. This fieldwork has been very important in enhancing our understanding of the variation in species and in providing details of their habit and habitat. A consequence is that Bolivia is the only country from where we have near complete molecular sampling, a near complete collection of photographs of living plants and a good understanding of the phenology of different Ipomoea species. It is fortunate that there are 109 recorded species in Bolivia making it the third most species-rich country for Ipomoea in the Americas after Mexico and Brazil.
Images
We have also benefitted from observations and in particular images sent to us by individuals over the years. We are particularly grateful to Maira Tatiana Martinez, Alfredo Fuentes, Alexander Parada, Julia Gutiérrez, Modesto Zarate and Daniel Soto (Bolivia), Moises Mendoza and Hibert Huaylla (Bolivia and Brazil), Hector Keller and Keith Ferguson (Argentina), Gilberto Morillo (Venezuela), Regis E. Bastian, Teresa Buril and Ray Harley (Brazil), Mario Giogetta (Bolivia and Argentina), Erin Tripp (Mexico), Jhon Infante Betancour (Colombia), Rémi Girault (French Guiana), Ramona Oviedo and José Luis Gómez (Cuba). We have also benefitted from images of living plants shown on a number of websites, especially Tropicos (tropicos.org) and SEInet.
Literature
We have made full use of a wide range of literature as cited in the list of references. This includes regional, national and local floras and checklists (WCSP (1917), for example) as well as taxonomic works. We have consulted field guides and similar works when we have become aware of their existence. They often provide specific habitat and field identification information not readily available elsewhere. We have also made occasional use of information on the internet, but only if it seems reliable. We have scanned literature for examples of illustrations of species to supplement those prepared specifically for this project.