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Convolvulus tricolor 'Ensign Red'

(Dwarf Morning Glory)

Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Common Names in English:

Dwarf Morning Glory

Description

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Family Convolvulaceae

Herbs or shrubs , usually with twining or climbing stems or erect , often with milky juice. Leaves alternate, simple , entire, dissected , or compound , absent in parasitic species. Flowers solitary, axillary or in cymes, racemes , panicles, umbels, or capitula, bisexual , actinomorphic , usually 5-merous, often showy. Sepals free , often persistent , sometimes enlarged in fruit. Corolla sympetalous , funnelform , campanulate , salverform , or urceolate ; limb subentire or deeply lobed . Stamens alternating with corolla lobes , adnate to corolla; filaments filiform , equal or unequal in length ; anthers introrse , laterally and longitudinally dehiscing; pollen smooth or finely spiny . Disc ringlike or cupular. Ovary superior, mostly 2-carpellate, 1- or 2-loculed, rarely 3- or 4-loculed; ovules basal, erect. Styles 1 or 2, terminal (gynobasic in Dichondra) or very short or absent; stigma entire or 2- (or 3) -lobed, rarely peltate. Fruit a capsule, dehiscing by valves , circumscissile, or irregularly shattering, less often a berry or nutlike. Seeds usually trigonous , smooth or pubescent .

About 58 genera and 1650 species: widely distributed in tropical , subtropical , and temperate regions ; 20 genera and 129 species in China.

Aniseia biflora (Linnaeus) Choisy and A. stenantha (Dunn) Ling, recognized in the Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin., are here treated as Ipomoea biflora and I. fimbriosepala, respectively, because both have pantoporate and spinulose pollen. Strictly speaking, Aniseia is a neotropical genus of about five species, of which A. martinicensis (Jacquin) Choisy is widely naturalized as a common weed in rice paddies in Thailand and other southeast Asian countries. It will probably be found in S China eventually.

The family is important in China for food plants (Ipomoea batatas (Linnaeus) Lamarck and I. aquatica Forsskål), several ornamentals (Ipomoea), several medicinal plants (Erycibe, Ipomoea, Cuscuta, Merremia, Dichondra, Evolvulus), and numerous noxious weeds (Cuscuta, Calystegia, Convolvulus) .

Pollen aperture type and surface ornamentation are important characters in the classification of Convolvulaceae at the generic level and above. The most critical feature of the pollen is whether the grain surface is spiny or not. This distinction separates the eight tribes recognized by Austin (Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 60: 306-412. 1973) into two rather cohesive groups. A low magnification (20 ) is adequate for discerning the presence or absence of minute spines on the surface.

For the successful identification of Convolvulaceae, both flowering and fruiting material should be collected. The first key to genera requires adequate fertile material with both flowers and fruit, and requires use of a pollen character. The second key may be used as an aid to identification where material is lacking flowers or fruit, but in some instances it is still partially dependent upon having both flowers and fruit.[1]

Genus Convolvulus

Plants annual or perennial , prostrate , erect , or strangling or twining herbs, or cushionlike or erect shrubs; axial parts usually pubescent , hairs simple or 2-armed. Leaves simple, petiolate or sessile, margin entire or ± lobed . Flowers axillary , peduncled, solitary or in various kinds of inflorescences. Sepals equal or unequal, middle sepal asymmetric (exposed 1/2 similar to outer 2 sepals, enclosed 1/2 similar to inner 2 sepals), persistent , not enlarged. Corolla funnelform or campanulate ; limb shallowly lobed or entire, with 5 ± distinct midpetaline bands . Stamens included , inserted at corolla base ; filaments dilated basally, filiform apically; pollen ellipsoid , 3- (or 4) -colpate, not spiny . Disc ringlike or cupular. Pistil included; ovary 2-loculed; ovules 2 per locule. Style 1, filiform; stigmas 2, linear , cylindric , or clavate . Capsule 2-loculed, 4-valved or irregularly dehiscent . Seeds 1-4, black or brown, often verruculose , pubescent, rarely glabrous .

Approximately 250 species: widely distributed; eight species in China.[2]

Physical Description

Habit: Deciduous.

Flowers: Bloom Period: June, July, August. • Flower Color: pink

Size/Age/Growth

Size: 12-18" tall.

Biology

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Growth

Culture: Space 9-12" apart.

Soil: Minimum pH: 6.1 • Maximum pH: 7.8

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun .

Taxonomy

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Similar Species

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Members of the genus Convolvulus

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 36 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

C. althaeoides (Convolvulus) · C. angustissimus (Bindweed) · C. arvensis (Bindweed) · C. assyricus (Convolvulus) · C. cairicus (Mile-A-Minute Vine) · C. cantabricus (Convolvulus) · C. chilensis (Convolvulus) · C. clementii (Bindweed) · C. cneorum (Bush Morning Glory) · C. coccineus (Mexican Morningglory) · C. compactus (Convolvulus) · C. equitans (Gray Bindweed) · C. eriocarpus (Morningglory) · C. erubescens (Australian Bindweed) · C. floridus (Rhodium Wood) · C. gortschakovii (Convolvulus) · C. hederifolius (Scarlet Creeper) · C. libanoticus (Convolvulus) · C. lineatus (Pygmy Bindweed) · C. mauritanicus (Ground Morning Glory) · C. nodiflorus (Aguinaldo Blanco) · C. patens (Coastal Plain Dawnflower) · C. pilosellifolius (Soft Bindweed) · C. pseudocantabrica (Convolvulus) · C. remotus (Bindweed) · C. scammonia (Scammony) · C. tamnifolius (Hairy Clustervine) · C. tricolor (Dwarf Morning Glory) · C. tricolor 'Blue Enchantment' (Dwarf Morning Glory) · C. tricolor 'Enchantment Mix' (Dwarf Morning Glory) · C. tricolor 'Ensign Blue' (Dwarf Morning Glory) · C. tricolor 'Ensign Mix' (Dwarf Morning Glory) · C. tricolor 'Ensign Pink' (Dwarf Morning Glory) · C. tricolor 'Ensign Red' (Dwarf Morning Glory) · C. tricolor 'Royal Ensign' (Dwarf Morning Glory) · C. wallichianus (Wallich's Bindweed)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Ruizheng Fang & George Staples "Convolvulaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 16 Page 271. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. "Convolvulus". in Flora of China Vol. 16 Page 289. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
Last Revised: 7/21/2012