Purple Morning Glory Flowers

Most morning glory flowers curl up and close during the warm parts of the day, and are fully open in the morning, thus their name. On a cloudy day, the flower may last until night. 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. Some morning glories, such as Ipomoea muricata, are night blooming flowers.


In cultivation, most are treated as perennial plants in frost-free areas and as annual plants in colder climates, but some species tolerate winter cold. There are some species which are strictly annual (eg. I. nil), producing many seeds, and some perennial species (eg. I. indica) which are propagated by cuttings. Some moonflowers, which flower at night, are also in the morning glory family.


Because of their fast growth, twining habit, attractive flowers, and tolerance for poor, dry soils, some morning glories are excellent vines for creating summer shade on building walls when trellised, thus keeping the building cooler and reducing heating and cooling costs.


Popular varieties in contemporary western cultivation include 'Sunspots', 'Heavenly Blue', the moonflower, the cypress vine, and the cardinal climber. The cypress vine is a hybrid, with the cardinal climber as one parent.


Ipomoea purpurea in Loganville, Georgia

Morning glory was first known in China for its medicinal uses, due to the laxative properties of its seeds.


It was introduced to the Japanese in the 9th century, and they were first to cultivate it as an ornament. A rare brownish-coloured variant known as Danjuro is very popular. During the Edo Period, it became a very popular ornamental flower.


Ancient Mesoamerican civilizations used the morning glory species Ipomoea alba to convert the latex from the Castilla elastica tree[citation needed] and also the guayule plant to produce bouncing rubber balls[citation needed]. The sulfur in the morning glory's juice served to vulcanize the rubber, a process pre-dating Charles Goodyear's discovery by at least 3,000 years. Aztec priests in Mexico were also known to use the plant's hallucinogenic properties.