<i>Ipomoea tiliacea</i> (Convolvulaceae) seeds stranded on the south-west coast of Ireland

Three 4 mm drift seeds collected from St Finan’s Bay on the south-west coast of Ireland were cultivated to produce climbing plants with cordate to trilobed leaves. The sequence of the Internal Transcribed Spacer region of ribosomal DNA of these plants provided a match for Ipomoea tiliacea (Willd.) Choisy. This plant is native from the Bahamas to southern Brazil, commonly occurring in maritime regions of the mainland and islands. This is the first record of seeds of this species likely to have been carried across the surface of the North Atlantic Ocean. Records of this plant, elsewhere in Europe, require confirmation.