Morning glory bush

Morning glory bush

Ipomoea carnea

Common Name:

Morning glory bush

Scientific Name:

Ipomoea carnea


Alternative common names:

Cairo morning glory, five-fingered morning glory, Messina creeper, mile-a-minute.

Description:

A climbing or scrambling shrub with deep pink to rose-red flowers. This shrub invades roadsides and watercourses and may out-compete indigenous plants. It prefers warmer climates and recorded from coastal bush and savanna.  

Additional Information


Where does this species come from?

South, Central and North America, from Argentina to Florida and Texas in the United States.

What is its invasive status in South Africa?

NEMBA 1b.

Where in South Africa is it a problem?

Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Limpopo Provinces.

How does it spread?

Stem fragments and seeds are often dispersed in dumped garden waste and can also be spread by water.

Why is it a problem?

It invades roadsides, riverbanks, ditches and edges of dams in savanna and may out-compete indigenous plants.

What does it look like?

Leaves: Dull green, bumpy on both sides but sometimes becoming glabrous, lance to oval shaped, 100-250mm long.

Flowers: Deep pink to rose purple, 50-90mm long in clusters at the branch tips.

Fruit/seeds: Capsule brown, dehiscent capsules, 20mm long, 10-15mm wide, glabrous, seed usually covered with long brown hairs.

Does the plant have any uses?

Ornament, screens and hedges.

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