Common Morning Glory: Glorious Purple of Ipomoea purpurea Day Flowers

Summary: Common Morning Glory (Ipomoea purpurea), a New World flowering vine native to Mexico and Central America, has heart-shaped leaves and showy purple flowers.

trio of purple morning glories (Ipomoea purpurea), with their heart-shaped leaves; New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill, Boylston, Massachusetts; Wednesday, Sep. 14, 2005, 10:51:36: tracy ducasse (ms.Tea), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Ipomoea purpurea (ipp-oh-MEE-uh pur-PURE-ee-uh) is a New World flowering climber native to Mexico and Central America. In the United States, Ipomoea purpurea claims naturalized homelands in every state, except Idaho and Wyoming.

The vine’s glorious flowers account for widespread naturalization in the world’s subtropical, tropical and warm temperature regions.

The scientific name captures the purple-flowered, twining plant’s essence. Ipomoea derives from Ancient Greek (ιπς, ips, “worm” + όμοιος, homoios, “like, resembling"). Purpurea comes from Latin (purpuro, “purple” + ea, “color of").

Ipomoea purpurea is known commonly in English as common morning glory, purple morning glory or tall morning glory. The common name reflects the annual climber’s daily timetable of opening flowers in the early morning and closing before afternoon.

Common morning glory thrives in a variety of sunny habitats, from cultivated landscapes to disturbed areas such as fields, roadsides and thickets. Although preferring moist, rich soil, common morning glory accepts a wide range of soil types, from acidic to neutral to alkaline, including clay, loam and sand.

Common morning glory displays high tolerance for drought as well as for salty environments. Common morning glory is sensitive to frost and to shade.

Common morning glory worms colorfully across the ground as resplendent ground cover and climbs dizzy heights as a crowning vine, 6 to 10-plus feet (1.8 to 3.048-plus meters) in length, looping across the tops of all plants in its full-sun vicinity.

Common morning glory twines dextrally, i.e. to the right, in ascending other plants’ stems.

Common morning glory opens intense blue or purple trumpet-shaped flowers with white throats. Trumpet insides may feature five-pointed star markings in dramatic, dark-shaded contrasts, radiating out from pink or yellow rings.

Occasionally flowers have stunning white flowers that may be marked with colorful star markings. Cultivars present showy white or shades of red, such as pink or magenta.

Globular fruits succeed flowers on the vine and contain three to six seeds. Dull brown to black, hairy seeds are wedge-shaped and sport a horseshoe-shaped scar.

Common morning glory seeds contain ergine, also known as d-lysergic acid amide (LSA), a mild psychedelic. Seeds of common morning glory and other bindweed or morning glory species enjoyed special status in Aztec Mesoamerica (ca. 13th to 16th centuries) as ololiuqui, divining plants used in religious and shamanic rituals.

Common morning glory festoons the sunny, lush field on my yard’s northern border from midsummer through autumn. Gorgeous necklaces of green leafy hearts and purple trumpets bestow elegance upon a section dominated by orange jewelweed (Impatiens capensis) and framed by Canadian goldenrod (Solidago canadensis).

Sometimes I am tempted to ramp up common morning glory’s showiness in garden and patio landscapes as a wall cascade, in containers and in hanging planters.

But the glorious necklaces of their comfortable, wild habitat attracts a multitude of devoted pollinators, such as bees (Apis spp.), butterflies (Lepidoptera), hummingbirds (Trochilidae) and moths (Lepidoptera).

So why toy with perfection?

Ipomoea purpurea seeds; image credit Steve Hurst; "Provided by ARS Systematic Botany and Mycology Laboratory": "This image is not copyrighted and may be freely used for any purpose. Please credit the artist, original publication if applicable, and the USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database," via USDA NRCS PLANTS Database

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

trio of purple morning glories (Ipomoea purpurea), with their heart-shaped leaves; New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill, Boylston, Massachusetts; Wednesday, Sep. 14, 2005, 10:51:36: tracy ducasse (ms.Tea), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/teagrrl/44215264/

Ipomoea purpurea seeds; image credit Steve Hurst; "Provided by ARS Systematic Botany and Mycology Laboratory": "This image is not copyrighted and may be freely used for any purpose. Please credit the artist, original publication if applicable, and the USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database," via USDA NRCS PLANTS Database @ https://plants.usda.gov/home/plantProfile?symbol=IPPU2

For further information:

Erwin, Ashley. “Ipomoea purpurea (L.) Roth.” Climbers > Species Accounts. July 29, 2013.
Available @ http://climbers.lsa.umich.edu/?p=242

Gilman, Edward F. “Ipomoea purpurea.” University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFLAS) > Plant Information Databases > Shrub Fact Sheets. Fact Sheet FPS-284. October 1999.
Available @ http://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/database/documents/pdf/shrub_fact_sheets/ipopura.pdf

Quattrocchi, Umberto. CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names: Common Names, Scientific Names, Eponyms, Synonyms, and Etymology. Volume II D-L. Boca Raton FL: CRC Press LLC, 2000.

Stuart, David. Dangerous Garden: The Quest for Plants to Change Our Lives. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 2004.