Cairo Morning Glory, Ipomoea cairica, Oct 31, Jaffa
On the first day in Israel I spied my first wildflower and photographed it on the of the top of a famous hill in Old Jaffa. It was a trumpet bloom that looked like a plain and ordinary Heavenly Blue Morning Glory, which I thought must now be ubiquitous around the world. However, with further inspection I realized that this plant was not an ordinary run of the mill American flower, and it wasn’t even blue! Instead it turned out to be a purple Cairo Morning Glory that I had never seen before! Research tells me that the Cairo Morning Glory, otherwise known as the Mile-a-Minute Morning Glory, the Messina Creeper, the Railroad Creeper, the Five Fingered Morning Glory, or the Coast Morning Glory, does not grow in the United States, but if planted as a garden ornamental, there’s the possibility that it will escape from garden beds and become an invasive weed. It is native to tropical Africa, and the Mediterranean. The city of Jaffa, is the eastern boundary of its range.
Jaffa, was built on a high ridge overlooking the Mediterranean and has a population today of close to 50,000 people. It was otherwise known as Yafo, or Joppa, and was once called Yapu by the ancient Egyptians. It is the most ancient part of the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area which has a population of over 4 million people. Legend has it that the city was founded after the great flood by Yafet, or Japheth, a son of Noah. It was also the place where Andromeda was chained to a rock as an intended sacrifice and dinner for the sea monster, Cetus. Fortunately, she was rescued by Perseus. They were married and went on to have seven sons, including Perses, who may have been the founding father of the Persian ethnic group. Archeologist and historians have determined that Jaffa has been in existence since at least 1800 BCE, almost 4,000 years ago. It was also the port of entry for Jerusalem, and was where the cedars of Lebanon arrived which were used to build King Solomon’s Temple, the first permanent place of worship for the Jews.
After a long history of conquests and/or destruction by such historical figures as: Alexander the Great; the Maccabees; the Roman general, Cestius Gallus; Arab conquerors; the Crusaders; Saladin; King Richard the Lionheart; Frederick II; the Ottoman sultan Selim; and Napoleon; the city survived with a population split between Christians, Muslims and Jews. It wasn’t until the early 1900s that a group of Jews decided to move out of Jaffa to settle a sandy hill to the north, eventually calling their settlement Tel Aviv in 1910. Today Old Jaffa has a large raucous flea market, a number of Art Galleries, Restaurants and Souvenir shops, but also has its share of big city problems including drugs, crime, and racial tensions. It also has a wild Cairo Morning Glory growing on top of its famous hill.
The Cairo Morning Glory grows wild in mild climates from the Eastern Mediterranean through Asia to Taiwan, and in addition to tropical Africa, the plant has naturalized in Botswana, Swaziland and 4 provinces of South Africa where it is called Ihlambe, Jalamu, Intana or Umaholwana in the Zulu language. The Cairo Morning Glory can grow in well-drained soil, sandy loam, clay, salty or brackish soil, sandy dunes, forest edges and along river banks. It grows on flat ground to gently sloping hills under 2000 meters tall, in full sun or light shade. It can also grow in full shade but will not produce blooms. It is an herbaceous long-lived climber that grows fast and might overwhelm other plants. If grown in a garden, it can escape and become an invasive weed that is difficult to eradicate once it is established. Because of this, it is now categorized as invasive and harmful to the environment in China and Australia, and is listed as a noxious weed in Thailand, Vietnam, and parts of Central and South America.
The Cairo Morning Glory is a perennial climber that can also creep as a ground cover, trail over edges of rock or other plants, or twine as a vine up to 5 meters or 15 feet high. Its stems can grow to a length of 5 feet, and are smooth and might root when they touch the dirt. However, the plant mainly grows from its seeds found in hairy capsules 1 centimeter across. Seeds will grow in disturbed ground, and prefer moist sites.
The plant’s leaves consist of 5 to 7 leaflets that are pinnately lobed and grow alternately on the stem. Although the plant is considered an evergreen because of the hardiness of its tubers, the top of the plant can be killed by frost, but will recover when temperatures warm. The striking purple funnel shaped flowers are bisexual, have a dark eye in the center and are approximately 7 centimeters long and 9 centimeters, or 3 ½ inches across. In some plants, the flowers will be pink. Blooms are pollinated by bees, flies and butterflies. The plant blooms throughout the year opening the morning, and closing in mid-afternoon. The flowers are pollinated by bees, and the shoots, flowers and fruit are eaten by monkeys. The seeds are dispersed by the wind, and sometimes by water, especially in the rainy season.
Most of the plant is edible. Leaves are best eaten when young. The Zulu people make a mixture from the crushed leaves of the plant which they drink to heal rashes and fevers. Some people believe that the plant has antibiotic properties. The tuberous roots are brown on the outside and white on the inside, and while the tubers are edible, cooked or roasted, they are not as tasty as the plant’s relative Ipomoea batats – the Sweet Potato – which were introduced from America by the Portuguese and have now become a staple of many African diets. The twigs of the plants were once used to make rope and the fibers from the stems are made into sponges.
The scientific name, Ipomoea cairica, comes from the Greek ips and homolos meaning wormlike, and cairica meaning “from Cairo”, the city in Egypt where the species was first collected. The seeds from this plant were collected in 2018 by the Millennium Seed Banking Partnership or the MSBP which collects seeds of all indigenous plants. Even though the Cairo Morning Glory is considered to be a plant of least concern, natural disasters can happen at any time and any species could be wiped out. To avoid this, seeds of the Cairo Morning Glory have been collected when the seed capsule turned brown and the seeds have an increased chance of remaining viable for a long time. After being collected, the seeds were banked and reliably conserved in KEW gardens in the UK.
Interested in learning more about this vigorous plant? Check out the resources below:
Resources:
Julissa Rojas-Sandoval, CABI Digital Library, “Ipomoea cairica (five-fingered morning glory)”, https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/doi/10.1079/cabicompendium.28786
Riyadh Plants, “Cairo Morning Glory, Mile-a-Minute Vine” https://rp.riyadhenv.gov.sa/plant/721/?lang=en
PlantZAfrica.com, “Ipomoea cairica var. cairica” , https://pza.sanbi.org/ipomoea-cairica-var-cairica