WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

This low-climbing vine twines through grass, climbs wildflowers and bushes, and can turn a brush pile into a blooming garden. Note the light to dark blue, funnel-shaped flowers with a white center, and leaves with deep lobes. Flowers open in the morning and close by noon.

FLOWER: April–October. The light blue flowers have 5 fused petals that form a 2–3-inch long trumpet that opens 2–3-inches wide with a white throat; sepals with scattered hairs not obscuring the surface.

LEAVES: Alternate. Blades 1–3 1/2-inches long (2.5–9 cm), heart-shaped in outline deeply cut into 3–7 lobes with both surfaces covered with short hairs.

HABITAT: Gravelly loam, limestone soils, hills, roadsides; desert grasslands and scrub, pinyon-juniper-oak woodlands.

ELEVATION: 3,600–7,000 feet.

RANGE: AZ, NM, TX.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Silky Morning Glory, I. pubscens, in much the same range and habitat, has deeply-lobed leaves, hairy leaves, and silky-hairy sepals that are oval with long, tapering tips.

NEW MEXICO COUNTIES: Southern NM in low- to mid-elevation, arid habitats: Chaves, Dona Ana, Eddy, Luna, Otero, Torrance.