CONVOLVULUS FAMILY 



CONVOLVULACEAE 



WILD MORNING GLORY 



Ipomoea hederacea Jacq. 



Members of the Convolvulus family are largely tropical, 

 the majority trailing or climbing vines although there are a 

 few trees and numerous shrubs among them. Most important 



economically are the 

 Sweet Potato and the 

 Morning Glories. 



The Wild Morning 

 Glory is a tropical plant 

 which has become 

 naturalized farther 

 north. It is found in cul- 

 tivated fields and waste 

 places from Maine to 

 Florida and west to 

 Nebraska and Mexico. 

 In Illinois it is common 

 throughout, especially in 

 cornfields. 



It is an annual, easily 

 exterminated by culti- 

 vation, but likely to 

 come up several years in 

 succession since the seeds 

 retain their vitality for 

 some time. The whole plant is hairy. The slender stems twine 

 2-5 feet high about any available support. The deeply 3-lobed 

 leaves easily distinguish this plant from the cultivated Morning 

 Glory, which has unlobed leaves. 



Although considered a weed, this plant bears pretty light 

 blue or purple flowers, 1-3 on axillary peduncles. They bloom 

 from July until freezing weather, opening early in the morning 

 and closing soon after the sun is out. The 5 sepals are long and 

 narrow and often the tips are recurved. The corolla is funnel- 

 form, the tube often nearly white and the limb light blue or 

 purple. The 5- stamens are included in the tube. The ovary is 

 3-celled, the style slender and the stigma 3-lobed. The fruit is 

 a capsule containing several seeds. 



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