Ipomoea tricolor

Plant Characteristics

Habit		vine-climber

Cultivation

Scientific Names

Convolvulaceae >

Ipomoea >

tricolor >

Cav. >

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Ipomoea tricolor is a species of morning glory native to the New World tropics, and widely cultivated and naturalised elsewhere. It is a herbaceous annual or perennial twining liana growing to 2-4 m tall. The leaves are spirally arranged, 3-7 cm long with a 1.5-6 cm long petiole. The flowers are trumpet-shaped, 4-9 cm diameter, most commonly blue with a white to golden yellow centre.

In cultivation, the species is very commonly grown mis-named as Ipomoea violacea, actually a different though related species.

Read about Ipomoea tricolor in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Ipomoea tricolor, Cav. (I. rubro-caerulea, Hook. I. hookeri, Don and Hort.). St. tinged with purple, branched, 10-20 ft. high: lvs membranaceous, much-veined, short-acuminate: peduncle hollow and wand-like, longer than petioles, 3-4-fld.; fls. 3-4 in. wide, the tube white and limb red before expanding, at length purple or china- blue. Aug.-Oct. Mex. —One of the most beautiful of annual climbers. The fls. are often dashed, blotched and shaded with rose, or are entirely rose. It is likely to run to vine when out-of-doors unless the roots are confined in a box or pot to induce early flowering. It makes an excellent pot-plant for the greenhouse. Var. Heavenly Blue, from Calif., proves to be a blue form of I. tricolor, which is especially valuable for cut-fls. Var. alba, Hort., has pure white fls. The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

Cultivation

Varieties

Numerous cultivars of I. tricolor with different flower colours have been selected for use as ornamental plants; widely-grown examples include 'Blue Star', 'Flying Saucers', 'Heavenly Blue', 'Heavenly Blue Improved', 'Pearly Gates', 'Rainbow Flash', 'Summer Skies' and 'Wedding Bells'.

Some people consider this plant to be an invasive weed due to its fast rate of growth and its prodigious seed production.

Gallery

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  Wedding Bells

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  Wedding Bells close-up

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  (misnamed as violacea)

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  (misnamed as violacea)

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References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

External links

• w:Ipomoea tricolor. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
• Ipomoea tricolor QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)