Throughout spring, the white or light pink funnel-shaped flowers of wild morning glory abound along many roadsides in the Northeast. With help from UConn Extension, I can provide information on this pretty white flower.
Its scientific name is Calystegia sepium. Translated from Latin, it means “of hedges” or “of fences.” It gets its name because of its climbing tendencies. In addition to being called wild morning glory, this plant boasts names like devil’s guts, bride’s gown, white witches’ hat, Rutland beauty, great bindweed and hedge bindweed. It belongs to botanical family Convulvulaceae and thrives, aggressively at times, sometimes strangling other plants.
Vines of wild morning glory twine around other plants’ slender stems in a counterclockwise direction. About 200 years ago, one botanist observed one specimen making two revolutions around another plant’s stem every two hours and 42 minutes.
C. sepium has identifying traits: This herbaceous perennial vine grows up to 10 feet long, branching freely. It can form tangled masses on structures and other plants, or just grow along the ground. Stems can have hairs — or not – with young vines displaying red tinges. Leaves are arrowhead-shaped and, like the stems, may or may not have hairs on both the upper and lower surfaces. Tips are pointed, with leaves two to four inches long; the leaf base is angular, with lobes resembling the shape of dog’s ears.
Flowers are produced singly, with white to light pink petals, forming a funnel shape. Individual flowers are only open for one day. In the Northeast, flowers are present from mid-May through September, with two to four seeds present in a capsule. The dark brown seeds are shaped like little citrus segments, surviving up to 30 years.
This plant is confused with other vines, especially field bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis). Field bindweed has smaller leaves that have a more rounded tip and bases that are rounded and pointed, but not cut off squarely like the “dog’s ears” of wild morning glory. Although quite attractive, this plant is aggressive enough to be designated a “noxious weed” in some states.
For anyone needing to get rid of these vines, the best method, on a small scale, is hand pulling. This may not be a one-time chore, because new plants can grow from rhizomes which are capable of reaching 10 feet in length.
A 1974 greenhouse study reported that C. sepium has allelopathic tendencies, meaning that exudates from the roots inhibited other plants, which helps explain its ability to take over other plants.
Another, but more labor-intensive, weed control tactic that reportedly kills these vines is to unwind them and then wind them again around the stem or support in the opposite (clockwise) direction – again, on a small scale.
Several insect species visit C. sepium flowers for nectar, acting as pollinators. These include long-tongued bees, like bumblebees, little carpenter bees, mallow bees, squash and gourd bees and the morning glory bee. It is believed that flowers on the same vine are infertile. One Japanese study found that all the pollen of C. sepium was gone by noon.
Hedge bindweed. Photo by David Cappaert, Bugwood.org
Leaves are often eaten by common plume moth caterpillars as well as tortoise beetles. Although very few mammalian herbivores prefer these plants, bobwhite quail and ring-necked pheasants commonly enjoy their seeds. Stalks and chutes are sometimes consumed by humans and have a sweet taste after being washed and steamed.
With the last comment, I’ll introduce Ipomoea batatas, a dicotyledonous plant that also belongs to the bindweed family. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable. Its common name is sweet potato – the second cousin mentioned in my title.
But the wild relatives should not be eaten in large quantities because of possible laxative effects. These versions have been used in traditional medicine as diuretics. Large quantities of their seeds and roots can be slightly toxic, but pigs have consumed them without problems.
In his textbook “Weeds: Control Without Poisons” (Acres USA Publish, 1996), Charles Walters explained that the perennial C. sepium reproduces with both seeds and shallow creeping roots. He calls it “a blood brother” to field bindweed and morning glory.
Brother C. sepium has also been known as “climbing false buckwheat” – growing almost everywhere, even on eroded, well-drained hillsides. According to Walters, “Bindweed reflects improper decay of organic matter (OM), as well as excess accumulation of heavy soil metals. A high germination rate of the weed may be caused by a concentration of cattle stomping OM into the ground. Morning glories function best in the presence of humus materials and a dysfunctional decay system.”
Some weeds tend to flourish more in eroded, low humus soils which cannot support corrective decay systems for soil restoration. Low calcium, phosphorus, potassium and pH are catalyzing factors, resulting in crusting and sticky soils. Most creeping vine-type weeds have extensive and fast-growing rhizomes that develop to completely entrap the soil nutrient system in and around clusters of organic residues.
Walters also said that the biological energies contained in these foul, rotting residues support numerous dominating hormone enzyme systems that are just right for the vine weed families. But they happen to be “un-right” for other species of soil and plant life. Such conditions can occur within soils of high cation exchange capacity (CEC), like clays, as well as low CEC soils like sands and with varying ranges of soil OMs. Those conditions almost always occur in soils that limit fermentation and optimal breakdown of organic residues.
Quoting Walters directly, “Correct these [above] soil limitations through pH management and the bindweed/morning glory syndrome becomes completely dispersed. No herbicide chemical or fertilizer material can replace good management.”
This is my own anecdotal observation: If magnesium is deficient (as documented by soil test), Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) applied at 200 lbs./acre has been shown to greatly discourage both wild morning glory and bindweed in row crops. I have used this management approach and gotten others to successfully practice what I preach.
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