Ipomoea Pes-Caprae, Railroad Vine or Railway Creeper

Ipomoea pes-caprae, Railroad Vine or Railway Creeper has a wide range of herbal remedy uses: in Australia, people use the plant in a poultice for sting ray stings; in Brazil it’s used for treating inflammation; and in the Philippines, it’s used for colic, whitlow, piles and rheumatism.

It can cover 100 ft (30.5 m) as it races along the beach, but it never gets more than a few inches high. This is an evergreen perennial with a large, thick root that can be 10 ft (3.1 m) long and 2 in (5.1 cm) in diameter. The stem is flexible, 0.5 in (1.3 cm) in diameter, branches freely and roots at the nodes. The fleshy leathery leaves are about 4 in (10.2 cm) long and carried on petioles 6 in (15.2 m) long. The leaves are notched at the apex, creating two equal lobes which must have looked like the imprint of a goat’s foot to Professor Linnaeus who named the plant. The flowers are very showy, pink to lavender purple funnels about 2 in (5.1 m) long. Each flower opens only once, in the morning, but they keep coming almost all year long, peaking from May through November.