Nature Bulletin No. 384-A   May 30, 1970
Forest Preserve District of Cook County 
George W. Dunne, President
Roland F. Eisenbeis, Supt. of Conservation

****:MORNING GLORIES

The Morning Glories have a name that fits them perfectly. Before 
sunrise, on a summer day, they open the large trumpet-shaped flowers 
which they bear in such profusion. Other flowers do this, particularly 
some of the early spring wildflowers, but the morning glories are 
peculiar: by afternoon, even on a sunny day, each flower has closed and 
becomes a slender tube. There is one exception, the Moonflower, which 
is closed during the day but opens its huge white sweet-scented 
blossoms at dusk and attracts the night-flying moths.

The Morning Glory Family numbers about 1200 species widely 
distributed in the tropical and temperate climates. Many of them are 
remarkable for their twining climbing rapid growth: others merely trail 
over the ground: a few tropical species are shrubs or trees. Our true 
morning glories, although they have escaped to grow wild in many 
places, were imported from Central America and are all annuals, 
reproducing by seeds.

The Common Morning Glory is a very popular old-fashioned flower 
because its slender weak stems will climb to a height of as much as 10 
feet in a very short time, and are covered not only with large heart-
shaped leaves but also with flowers that bloom from June until October. 
Consequently, it was and is much used on trellises to provide shade for 
porches, or arbors in gardens, or to cover walls. Several cultivated 
varieties have been developed, so that the flowers may be white, pink, 
red, purple, or variegated.

The Ivy-leafed Morning Glory is very similar but has 3-lobed leaves. 
There is a less common species which has smaller flowers, always 
white; another bears small clusters of scarlet flowers, each about 1-1/2 
inches long with a yellow throat: and the Cypress Vine which has bright 
scarlet flowers and a long leaf divided into narrow parallel lobes.

The Wild Potato Vine, native in the eastern half of the United States 
and found in dry or gravelly waste places, is another member of this 
family. It was an important food for the Indians, who called it "Man-of-
the-earth" or "Man-under-ground"' because it has a huge starchy root, 
often as thick and long as a man's leg and weighing from 10 to 30 
pounds, which grows deep beneath the surface. The vines trail over the 
ground, or climb into shrubs and small trees sometimes attaining a 
length of 15 feet. The large leaves are heart-shaped or fiddle-shaped. 
The showy trumpet-shaped flowers are white, with a pinkish or purplish 
throat, and often 3 inches in diameter. The sweet potato, one of our 
important foods, is the fleshy root of a tropical "morning glory".

The Bindweeds are the villains of this family -- hated as much or more 
than any other weed. They are perennials, reproducing by long creeping 
roots as well as by seeds, and differ in other ways which only a botanist 
can recognize. In the far-western states there is a bindweed with pale 
yellow flowers striped with deeper yellow and tinged with pink. In 
eastern United States we have two common species and both are serious 
pests because they twine around and smother crop plants in fields and 
gardens. Further, they are extremely difficult to get rid of. One, the 
Field Bindweed or Creeping Jenny, was unfortunately introduced from 
Europe and has a mass of roots which may extend as much as 15 feet 
and to a considerable depth. The other, the Hedge Bindweed or Wild 
Morning Glory, is native here and a taller plant. Both have arrow-
shaped leaves and white flowers often tinged or striped with pink.

Sprout a plump sweet potato in a jar of water and see what happens.