Photographed August 31.
Photographed August 31.
An introduced ornamental that has become quite weedy, especially in the city of Pittsburgh, where it covers banks and winds through vacant lots with gay abandon. These vines grew in Beechview.
Flowers. Large and showy; trumpet-shaped,
like an old phonograph horn; five-parted, with white
center and contrasting darker markings radiating from
the center. They come in several colors, from the
deepest velvety purple to bright pink and occasional
pale blues; in Pittsburgh, white is very rare. They
close by midday, or later if the weather is chilly or
dark.
Leaves. Heart-shaped, or on vigorous and
high-growing vines sometimes three-lobed, like a grape
leaf; smooth above, lightly rough-hairy below;
strongly veined.
Stem. Hairy; bright green to brownish purple;
long and climbing; climbs by wrapping itself around
any support, often bundling with other stems from the
same plant, forming a dense mound; can climb to 9 feet
(3 m) or so in one season.
Photographed October 12.
Gray describes the genus and the species, which he
places in the Euipomoea or Ipomoea-proper section of
the genus:
IPOMOÈA L. MORNING GLORY. Calyx not bracteate at base,
but the outer sepals commonly larger. Corolla
salver-form or funnel-form to nearly campanulate; the
limb entire or slightly lobed. Capsule globular, 4-6
(by abortion fewer)-seeded, 2-4-valved. (Nаmе,
according to Linnaeus, from ips, a Bindweed,
and homoios, like; but ips is a
worm.)
§ 2. EUIPOMOÈA Gray. Corolla funnel-form or nearly
campanulate, contorted in the bud; stamens and style
not exserted
Lobes of stigma and cells 3, sepals long and narrow,
attenuate upward, mostly hirsute below; corolla
purple, blue, or white. (MORNING GLORY.)
I. purpurea (L.) Roth. (COMMON M.) Annual;
stems retrorsely hairy; leaves heart-shaped,
acuminate, entire; peduncles long, umbellately
3-5-flowered; calyx bristly-hairy below; corolla
funnel-form, 4.5-7 cm. long, purple, varying to white.
— Escaped in cultivated grounds. (Introd. from Trop.
Am.)
