Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Cutleaf Morning Glory - Merremia dissecta




There seems to be some debate among plant taxonomists as to whether cutleaf morning glory (Merremia dissecta) or Noyau vine is native to Florida or not.  Most of my references list it as a native species, but Dr.'s Wunderlin and Hansen disagree and list it as a non-native on the website sponsored by the Institute of Systematic Botany (ISB) at the University of South Florida.  Regardless of its status, it is found in upland sites nearly statewide in Florida, and across the Deep South from Georgia to Texas.  It also occurs in Puerto Rico and Cuba.
It is a perennial vine that dies back to the ground in winter. Like most morning glories, it quickly reestablishes itself in spring and spreads in all directions quite aggressively using its tendrils to climb and clamber over everything within 6 feet or more from the main stem.  For this reason, it is often considered a nuisance despite its very attractive flowers.
Flowering occurs throughout much of the summer and fall.  Like all morning glories, each bloom opens for only one morning before fading. The flowers are a bright white with a rose-red throat and about 1 inch across.  They attract a wide assortment of pollinators.  The pollinated flowers form large brown seed capsules with the woody sepals still attached like wings behind them.  This gives them the appearance of flowers long after the real ones have faded.
The foliage of cutleaf morning glory is also very distinctive.  They are palmately lobed - like the fingers on a hand, and each lobe is lobed too.  As the Latin name indicates, the leave margins are dissected.
This species has never been offered for sale, to my knowledge, by any nursery affiliated with FANN - the Florida Association of Native Nurseries and it is unlikely to be in the future.  Because of its aggressive nature, cutleaf morning glory is difficult to contain in any kind of managed landscape. If you want to attempt it, make sure to keep it on a sturdy chain link fence or similar structure, plant it in a sunny location and make sure it has good drainage. Seed from mature seed capsules is relatively easy to germinate.

1 comment:

  1. Hi, Ive always heard these called a wood rose

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