Kathleen H. Keeler

Ipomoea leptophylla (Convolvulaceae), the bush morning glory, is a prairie plant of sandy soils. Related to desert morning glories, rather than eastern species, it grows from a large root tuber.

It is a long-lived perennial. I began marking plants in 1978 and followed the study through the 1980’s, publishing the results in:
Keeler, K.H. 1991. Survivorship and recruitment in a long-lived perennial Ipomoea leptophylla (Convolvulaceae). American Midland Naturalist 126: 44-60.

I left the tags on the plants, however, and in 2002 I returned to Arapaho Prairie and looked for the marked plants.

Fig. 1. Survival of all Ipomoea leptophylla plants present on Arapaho Prairie “lizard grid” in 1982 to 2002

Fig. 2. Survival of Ipomoea leptophylla plants that were size “small” or greater (that is, eliminating “tiny”, see citation above for definitions) from 1983-2002

Fig. 3. Survival of Ipomoea leptophylla plants “medium” or greater in size, 1982-2002

Fig. 4. Survival of the largest Ipomoea leptophylla plants initially marked at Arapaho Prairie, 1979 to 2002.

These graphs are provisional: I did not get the plot fully searched in 2002. But the pattern expected in 1991 seems to be valid: established plants of Ipomoea leptophylla live for decades.