Tievine - Ipomoea cordatotriloba

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Tievine (Ipomoea cordatotriloba) is one of the most ubiquitous native morning glories in Florida. Vouchered from virtually every county in the state, it occurs in a wide variety of upland habitats; especially those that have been disturbed. These photos were taken this past (2019) fall in Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park in Okeechobee County and constituted a new species on the Park's plant list. Tievine also is recorded throughout the Southeast Coastal Plain states from Texas to the west and North Carolina to the east.
This species has extremely variable leaf shapes. Some, like photographed above, are decidedly arrow-shaped, but others are heart-shaped with a good deal of variability within any single plant. Like all members of this genus in Florida, it remains evergreen in warm areas and deciduous in areas that routinely freeze. It also is a sprawling vine that twines itself through adjacent vegetation. As such. it extends itself for great distances in all directions from the main stem.
Flowering can occur during most months while it is actively growing. The flowers are showy, a rich pink in color with a deeper pink throat, and about 3-4 inches across. These are pollinated by a variety of insects.
Tievine, like other members of this genus, is an attractive native plant, but difficult to contain in a landscape. For this reason, few of our native species are routinely offered for sale by members of FANN - the Florida Association of Native Nurseries. It could be grown effectively on a fence or garden structure, but it would still require some regular pruning to keep it in the desired location. It would be easy to propagate from seed collected from ripe seed capsules.