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| Ipomoea quamoclit, Cypress Vine - Alafua, Samoa, 2013 |
Back in 2012 I
found a strange if exquisitely beautiful plant growing in a raised garden bed at
Malifa (Samoa) which had been newly planted with Zepheranthes rosea (Pink Rain Lilies).
Normally it would have been pulled up with all the other weeds (i.e. anything
other than the Zepheranthes that were supposed to be growing there) but this
one was lucky because I was there and when I saw the delicate leaves I decided
that not only was I going to spare it such a terrible and ultimately fatal fate
but I dug it up and took it with me to Alafua (Samoa) where I was living and
transplant it into its own pot.
At first I just
entranced by the leaves and determined to have it encase the crude bamboo
trellis I had constructed for it. But then lo and behold it flowered and the
next thing I had were bright starbursts of bright crimson which were completely
beyond my expectation given how it had already won me over with its divinely
delicate leaves. That it also had stunningly breath-taking miniature flowers
was an unexpected bonus.
In 2013 I published a Mystery Plant post
about this exquisitely beautiful creeper with minuscule bright crimson
star-shaped flowers and delicate feathery leaves. I stumbled across a picture
of it where the scientific name was revealed to be Ipomoea
quamoclit.
Interestingly enough it belongs to the
Ipomoea genus of which I have grown and come across quite a few species. I
suppose I should have known if anything by the shape of the flower. I suppose I
was distracted by its size not to mention far too enraptured by its captivating
beauty to see any similarities.
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| Close up of a leaf of Ipomoea quamoclit, Cypress Vine - Alafua, Samoa, 2013 |
Ipomoea belongs to the plant family Convolvulaceaeaceae , also known as the Morning-glory Family whose members include a
number of creeper that share the common names of Morning-glory or moon flower.
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| Emerging flower buds and developing seed-pods of Ipomoea quamoclit, Cypress Vine - Alafua, Samoa, 2013 |
Given the
striking combination of this vine’s delicate leaf structure and brilliant red
flowers, it should come as no surprise that it is a popular plant. According to
Dave’s Garden[1], Ipomoea quamoclit is found in also found
in pink, white and near white as well as red.
However in some
places it is considered a noxious or invasive weed. It appears on the State
noxious weed list for 46 states in the USA[2], although at the same time, several other
sources hold that it is “not considered too aggressive and does not seem to
crowd out native plants”[3] (REF Missouri BG). The plant is native to
Mexico and the Tropical Americas[4]
Propagating it is
relatively easy. The seeds are small and it self-sows easily (which might
account for it being considered invasive). If you want to have seeds you should
let the seed heads dry on the plant and collect them once the seed-pod is
completely dry. You need to do this carefully because sometimes the seed head
crumbles as you pick it and the seeds will fall out.
I suppose you
could plant the seeds and transplant the seedlings later. I dug up and
transplanted several seedling from several locations where they were not wanted
including on large one that had decided to grow in the greenhouse where we were
experimenting with assorted Heirloom tomatoes grafted onto Maxifort rootstock.
That particular plant was at least 50 cm long and I planted it against the
chain-link fence with visions of that dreary looking fence covered in delicate
leaves and miniature star-burst of crimson. Unfortunately someone decided to do
some mowing with the whipper-snapper and moved that and a couple other seedlings
I had planted just after they had recovered from their transplanting and were
showing promise.
Some sources
indicate that seeds take 4 days to sprout and flowers within 30 days.
(Floridata). Others (REF Fine Gardening) recommend that chipping the seeds and
soaking for 24 hours. However I found they germinate easily although I suppose
that the only way to resolve the necessity or otherwise of chipping versus not
chipping would be to run some experiments and then see the germination ratio.
If I get the opportunity to I will do that. Unfortunately my Hummingbird vines
are in Samoa so unless I can find some here in the United Kingdom I doubt that
I will be able to set up such an experiment any time soon.
With regards to
the germination time I’m not sure how long the seeds take to sprout because I
was not really paying attention to that but they did seem to sprout reasonably
easily and fast and then grow relatively quickly which was a delight. I would
say that given the number of flowers and seeds produced and the speed with which
they grow, flower and produce seeds worrying about fiddly things like chipping
the seeds are a bit unnecessary.
The one thing you
do need a support structure like a trellis of some sort for the plants to grow
on. I constructed a very crude one by splitting some bamboo canes into 2 cm
thick strips and bending them into arches whose ends I stuck down into the soil
of the pot. I then tied the centres together to give it a bit more stability.
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| Ipomoea quamoclit, Cypress Vine - Alafua, Samoa, 2013 |
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| Ipomoea , Unidentified species - Alafua, Samoa, 2013 |
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| Ipomoea , Unidentified species - Alafua, Samoa, 2013 |
An added bonus to the beautiful leaves and flowers of both plants is that they also attract butterflies, bees and honey-eaters. However, given that they belong to the Convoluaceae or Morning-glory family all parts of the plant are poisonous so keep pets and little humans who may have a tendency to nibble on things well away from them.
WARNING:
the plants are poisonous.
References:
On-line
sources:
Intergrated Taxonomic Information System
Entry for Ipomoea quamoclit
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
Entry for Ipomoea quamoclit
Missouri Botanical Garden Entry for Ipomoeaquamoclit
Floridata.com Entry for Ipomoea quamoclit
Dave’s Garden Entry for Iopmoea quamoclit
Fine Gardening dot com Entry for Iopmoeaquamoclit
University of Tennessee Herbarium
USF Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants
Wikipedia Entry for Convolvulaceae
Wikipedia Entry for Solanales
Wikipedia Entry for Morning glory
Wikipedia Entry for Iopmoea
[1] Dave’s Garden: Entry for Ipomoea quamoclit at http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/93/
[2] USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Entry for Ipomoea
quamoclit at http://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=IPQU
[3] Missouri Botanical Garden Entry for Ipomoea quamoclit at http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=b912
[4] Floridata.com Entry for Ipomoea quamoclit at http://www.floridata.com/ref/i/ipom_qua.cfm
Scientific Name: Ipomoea quamoclit
Common
names: Cypress vine, Cypressvine morning glory, Cardinal Creeper, Cardinal vine, Star glory, Hummingbird vine, Indian Pink, Cupid's flower (English) ; name (French); kardinaalswinde (Dutch); Name (German); Name (Italian); Name (Spanish); Name (Portuguese); Tarulata, Kamalata, Kunjalata, Getphul (Bengali)
Taxonomic hierarchy:
Kingdom: Plantae - Plants
Subkingdom: Viridaeplantae – Green plants
Infrakingdom: Streptophyta – Land plants
Division: Tracheophyta – Vascular plants
Subdivision: Spermatophytina –
Spermatophytes (seed plants)
Infradivision: Angiospermae – Angiosperms
(flowering plants)
Class: Eudicota –
Superorder: Asterids –
Order: Solanales –
Family: Convolvulaceaeaceae –
Genus: Ipomoea –
Species: Ipomoea quamoclit –
Notes:
- I am using the taxonomical classification system used by ITIS (Intergrated Taxonomic Information System). I have decided to use this system in order to avoid confusion as well as because it offers a comprehensive hierarchy from kingdom right through to subspecies whereas other sources only go as far as order or provide the names of some of the higher taxonomical ranks but only indicate "unclassified" rather than providing the rank.
- When and where possible I will endeavour to include alternatives classifications although I may limit this to occasions where an opportunity arises to discuss the reason for the different classifications.
- Taxonomical data used in this post was retrieved [September 9th 2014], from the Integrated Taxonomic Information System on-line database, http://www.itis.gov.
On-line sources:
- Royal Horticultural Society: Entry for
- Official Website of the:
- Integrated Taxonomic Information System on-line database: Entry for
- Wikipedia: Entry for
- Wikipedia: Entry for
- Wikipedia: Entry for
- Medicinal Plants of Bangladesh: Entry for Ipomoea quamoclit
Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters Blog by Vincent Albert Vermeulen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
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My other blogs
· Flora
and Fauna - Plants and Critters (on plants, animals as well as
gardening, conservation and environmental matters):
http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.com/· The Blood of Souls (language, translation and etymology) : http://thebloodofsouls.blogspot.com/
· Whiskers on Kittens (Life with Kittens and Cats in general) : http://whiskersonkittens-vincent.blogspot.com/
