Plant Features: Morning Glory

Morning glory is a common name for over 1,000 species of flowering plants in the family the Convolvulaceae, belonging to the following genera:

  • Calystegia
  • Convolvulus
  • Ipomoea
  • Merremia
  • Rivea

Flowers could be almost any color depending on the species. As the name implies, morning glory flowers, which are funnel-shaped, open in the morning, allowing them to be pollinated by hummingbirds, butterflies, bees, and other daytime insects and birds, as well as Hawkmoth at dusk for longer blooming variants. The flower typically lasts for a single morning and dies in the afternoon. New flowers bloom each day. The flowers usually start to fade a couple of hours before the petals start showing visible curling. They prefer full sun throughout the day and mesic soils. In cultivation, most are treated as perennial plants in tropical areas and as annual plants in colder climates, but some species tolerate winter cold.