Subject: Re: morning glory foliage

From: [email-masked]
Date: 10 Mar 95 22:25:17 -0600

In article <[email-masked]>, FEENEY <[email-masked]> writes:
> On this list we have had various discussions about confusions with common 
> names.  Morning glories fall into this category.  I grow Ipomoeas as 
> annuals, from seed, not to be confused with bindweed, a similar looking 
> vine, sharing the same common name of morning glory but a nasty invasive 
> brut as perennial as the seasons.  So, taxonomists out there, please 
> explain how the genus Convolvulus fits into the name game here.  And what 
> about Quamoclit (star glory) and Calonyction (moonflower).  Are these now 
> classified as Ipomoeas?  

Last time I looked at the generally accepted schemes for the Convolvulaceae,
Ipomoea was considered to have 2-3 lobed capitate stigmas, and Convolvulus
to have 2-cleft (linear, oblong, ovate) stigmas, and Calystegia, 
and which had solitary flowers and 1-loculate fruits vs. multiloculate
fruits in the rest of the Convolvulaceae.

Calystegia and Convolvulus are usually called bindweeds: about 25 species
of Calystegia, and 250 of Convolvulus.   There are roughly 500 species
of Ipomoea.

Morning glory is used for most of the genus Ipomoea, but it also
includes I. alba (moonflower, once called Calonyction), I. batatas,
sweet potato (not to be confused with yams, which are Dioscorea, of
the Dioscoreaceae!), I. coccinea, once known as Quamoclit coccinea,
and I. nil, once called Pharbitis nil, beloved of plant physiologists.

I know it drives most people up the wall to think that names can change,
and a single species can masquerade under a bunch of different scientific
names, but the name changes do reflect our evolutionary understanding
of the groups: they're not just the product of a fevered brain that
has been around too many mothballs.  (Besides, we've got ways of
tracing all those name changes... eventually, they all lead back
to a real plant, glued on a piece of paper, and filed in a herbarium).

Don't sweat the name changes... if you can't locate a plant under
the scientific name you thought you knew it by, ask a taxonomist to
help locate synonyms.  BTW, the USDA GRIN (germplasm resources 
information network) and the Gray Herbarium gopher at Harvard
are good places to start.

Kay Klier  [email-masked]

---

From: [email-masked] (KPWitman)
Date: 9 Mar 1995 22:33:41 -0500

I know that morning glory is very easily invasive, but last summer (in
Zone 7) the foliage had devoured an entire corner of the garden (full sun)
and the wagon wheel designed to support the vine had disappeared, and by
August 1 there wasn't a single flower.  I got disgusted too quickly and
ripped it out.  Should I have waited?  Does it really bloom that late in
the summer?  (Can't remember the cultivar: is that likely the problem?) 
Thanks     -Kim Witman

---

From: FEENEY <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 1995 17:03:20 -0800

On this list we have had various discussions about confusions with common 
names.  Morning glories fall into this category.  I grow Ipomoeas as 
annuals, from seed, not to be confused with bindweed, a similar looking 
vine, sharing the same common name of morning glory but a nasty invasive 
brut as perennial as the seasons.  So, taxonomists out there, please 
explain how the genus Convolvulus fits into the name game here.  And what 
about Quamoclit (star glory) and Calonyction (moonflower).  Are these now 
classified as Ipomoeas?  
I have understood that the Ipomoeas will not flower well if treated to a 
rich diet of fertilizer, which tends to put on more leaf growth and fewer 
flowers.
Thanks for the info,
Cheers, Stephanie Feeney
[email-masked]
zone 7