Beach Morning Glory

Beach Morning Glory (Calystegia soldanella)

Well, morning glory is not a glamorous plant but it is easy to identify, at least the beach variety. It has big pale lavender bell-shaped flowers with white streaks inside them and round leaves. Morning glory's Latin name is Calystegia soldanella, also known as Convolvulus soldanella. Note that even  botanists can't tell the difference between Calystegia and Convolvulus genera without microscope and sometimes they are grouped together. The difference is so minor that we do not need concern ourselves.

Calystegia is a Greeek word and means "a covering cup", referring to the cup-like shape of the flowers.  Convolvulus is a Latin word derived from the word convolvere, which mean to "wind" and refers to winding stems of the plants within the family. It is a vine. Morning glory, also known as bindweed makes a nice decorative plant that does not take any maintenance. Though commonly seen flowers are usually white or very pale, some species come in gorgeous bright colors, like for example dwarf morning glory (Convolvulus tricolor).

Well, as the name implies, this plant belongs to Morning glory family known as Convolvulaceae.

Calystegia soldanella grows on a long stem

By the way if you ever decide to photograph beach plants, don't be surprised as the amount of insects getting in your pictures. Little bugs love these plants. Well, with the flowers like this it has to be insect-pollinated, but I think the pollinating insects are ants and beach bugs rather than bees.