Hillside Morning-glory

Coast Range False Bindweed
Calystegia collina ssp. collina
NATIVE – CA ENDEMIC

Description (Jepson, PlantID.net)

• Eudicotyledon
  • Eudicots are a major lineage of flowering plants; see family for general characteristics
• Morning-glory Family (Convolvulaceae)
• Low-growing perennial herb
  • Grows from a rhizome (horizontal underground stem)
• Leaves
  • Arranged in a basal rosette
  • Kidney-shaped to triangular
    • Pointed tips
    • Margins very wavy, crinkly
  • Covered with soft, wooly hairs (tomentose)
• Flowers
  • Inflorescence (flower arrangement) is of large, solitary flowers on short stems
  • Each flower with 5 fused petals, twisted and pleated in bud, opening into a funnel shape
    • White or cream, often tinted with light pink
  • Ovary superior (attached above other flower parts)
• Fruit is a capsule (a dry, multi-chambered fruit that splits open at maturity)
• Height to a few inches

Distribution

• Native and endemic (limited) to California
  • Grows in rocky soils, open grassland, or in open oak/pine woodland, often in serpentine soil
  • 85-94% of plants occur on ultramafic soils, e.g. serpentine; see ultramafic affinity rankings (Calfora per Safford and Miller 2020)
  • See Serpentine Grassland for more about Edgewood’s serpentine soil and the unique communities it supports
  • See Calflora for statewide observations of this plant
• Grows at elevations to 1,970 ft.

Uses (San Mateo County Parks prohibits removal of any natural material)

• Wildlife
  • Visited by birds, e.g. Anna’s hummingbird (Calypte anna), and insects for nectar and pollen
    • Nectar food source for native bees, bumblebees, and some moths, e.g. white-lined sphinx moth (Hyles lineata)
  • Larval food source (host) for some moths, e.g. morning-glory plume moth (Emmelina monodactyla)

Name Derivation

• Calystegia (kal-i-STEE-jee-a) – from the Greek kalux, “cup,” and stegos, “a covering,” meaning a covering or concealing cup, probably referring to the leaf-like structures (bractlets) partially concealing the sepals of some species
• collina (kol-EYE-na) – most likely named after the Roman goddess of hills, Collina, related to the Latin collis, “hill”
• Morning-glory – flower opens in the early morning

Notes

• Although members of the morning-glory family are often vines, hillside morning-glory grows in a tidy basal rosette
• Geophytes (e.g. plants growing from bulbs, corms, rhizomes, or enlarged taproots) are well adapted to survive fire, our Mediterranean climate’s long, dry summers, and extended droughts
  • Above-ground growth dies back after flowering, while underground the plant survives with stored water and nutrients
• Edgewood’s hillside morning-glory is part of a subspecies population
  • Subspecies indicates a geographically-separated population with distinct morphological characteristics; when not isolated, interbreeding is possible
  • Variety indicates a population with small morphological variations, e.g. color, seen throughout the geographic range of the species; interbreeding is possible
  • In practice, botanists have not consistently applied these ranks

ID Tips

• May be confused with 2 other morning-glory species at Edgewood – hill morning-glory (C. subacaulis ssp. subacaulis) and Western morning-glory (C. purpurata ssp. purpurata)

	Hill Morning-glory	Hillside Morning-glory	Western Morning-glory
Growth Habit	low-growing basal rosette	low-growing basal rosette	climbing vine
Hairiness	not or sparsely hairy	very hairy	not hairy
Leaves	flat or wavy edges … rounded or pointed tips	very wavy edges … pointed tips	flat edges … pointed tips
Habitat	grassland and scrub	serpentine grassland and scrub	chaparral, scrub, and open woodland

At Edgewood

• Found in serpentine and non-serpentine grasslands
  • See iNaturalist for observations of this plant
• Flowers April – June

See General References

Specific References

Alexander, E.B. 2010, Oct. and 2011, Jan. Serpentine soils and why they limit plant survival and growth. Fremontia 38/39: 28-31.

Las Pilitas Nursery. Pollination of California native plants.

Mitchell, M. 2017. Convolvulaceae: Morning-glory Family – Calystegia and Convolvulus. Monterey County Wildflowers, Trees, & Ferns – A Photographic Guide.

Safford, H.D. and J.E.D. Miller. 2020. An updated database of serpentine endemism in the California flora. Madroño 67: 85-104. BioOne Complete.