Blue Morning Glory Ipomoea indica

Blue morning glory is listed as a priority invasive plant for the Sunshine Coast Council region. However, it is not a prohibited or restricted invasive plant under the Biosecurity Act 2014.

Information and identification

Native to tropical America, blue morning glory is a vigorous, perennial climber. It is now a common weed throughout South East Queensland.

Blue morning glory’s thick, smothering growth is a common sight on many rural roadsides and forest edges.

It reproduces primarily from broken fragments of stems that produce new roots at the nodes. Hence, the most common mode of dispersal is believed to be as a consequence of gardeners dumping unwanted vegetative material. It does not appear to produce viable seeds in Australia.

Identification:

• Vine with slender stems up to 7m long.
• Leaves are dark green, broadly heart-shaped, with or without 3–5 lobes, 4–17cm long, 3–16cm wide, on leafstalk 2–18cm long.
• Flowers are striking blue-mauve, funnel-shaped, with groups of 3–12 petals fused to 8cm size, short-lived, readily replaced as they die.
• Seeds are angular, blackish, to 4mm long.

Impacts

Its climbing habit enables it to compete successfully with trees and shrubs
on the edges of forests and along riparian zones. Its rapidly growing stolons can form dense mats over the ground.

• Climbs high into canopies of native vegetation.
• Creates significant shading hazard for other species.
• Twining stems choke adjacent seedlings and smother mature plants.
• May hinder regeneration of native plants.

Distribution at Crystal Waters

Blue morning glory is spread over one area of approximately 4 hectares on Crystal Waters, centred on the Tropical Orchard Ridge above Lot 47 and spreading down into the gullies on either side, as shown below:

Control methods

Control at Crystal Waters is focussed on trying to prevent the vine climbing into the trees and limiting its’ spread across the ground. The stolons can spread for many metres and they produce new roots at each node, so breaking them off leaves nodes which can produce new plants. We try to follow the stolons and roll them up off the ground. Vines climbing into the trees can be broken off and followed back to the roots to remove them – the remaining parts above ground will then die. Control is much more difficult in densely vegetated areas, so control in the past year has concentrated on clearing areas of lantana so that the morning glory entwined in it can be more easily dealt with. This has had the added bonus of reducing the amount of lantana in the control area.