Search / Plant Profile / Calystegia felix

Plant Profile

Lucky Morning Glory (Calystegia felix)

Global Rank: G1 - Critically Imperiled
Legal Status: N/A
Family: Convolvulaceae
State: CA
Nature Serve ID: 925232
Lifeform: Vine, Forb/herb
Date Inducted in National Collection: 12/05/2022

Description:

Calystegia felix is a species that was widely considered to be extinct until it was rediscovered in 2011 growing in highly modified landscaping beds in the City of Chino.

Where is Lucky Morning Glory (Calystegia felix) located in the wild?

States & Provinces:

Lucky Morning Glory can be found in California

Which CPC Partners conserve Lucky Morning Glory (Calystegia felix)?

California Botanic Garden

Not Sponsored

Conservation Actions

Assigned 12/05/22

CPC's Plant Sponsorship Program provides long term stewardship of rare plants in our National Collection. We are so grateful for all our donors who have made the Plant Sponsorship Program so successful. We are in the process of acknowledging all our wonderful plant sponsorship donors on our website. This is a work in progress and will be updated regularly.

Conservation Actions

Katie Heineman

03/15/2023

California Botanic Garden collected cuttings from three populations in 2022 and 2023. The vegetative material collected was approximately 6-12” in length from a number of plantlets found at each location. Stems were intertwined with surrounding shrubs (exotic ornamentals) which made processing challenging as cuttings needed to be separated and managed without breaking or damaging the stems. Entire stems were processed whereby each was cut into multiple individual cuttings dependent on length, and individual cuttings were stripped of the bottom half of the leaves. All cuttings were disinfected with a 10% bleach solution and subsequently dipped in a rooting hormone to aid in root initiation. Cuttings were stuck in propagation flats containing perlite (Figure 3), and watered three to four times a week. Rooting was generally observed within four to six weeks. While rooting was not difficult, the time needed for it to occur was greater than expected as Calystegia sp. are anecdotally known for their quick rooting times (two to three weeks). This may be due to the quality of material selected. Some branches were especially thin and young, and besides slower rooting, rotting of stem material did occur. Rooted cuttings were transplanted to two-inch containers with a soil mixture of peat moss, perlite and coarse sand with slow-release fertilizer. After establishing a root system in these pots, all were transplanted to a final treepot container, with a soil mixture of composted green waste, pumice, perlite, peat moss, coarse sand, slow-release fertilizer and micronutrients.

Katie Heineman

03/15/2023

Vegetative cuttings were collected by CalBG staff in 2011 and 2013. The plants in cultivation at CalBG have only produced a small number of seeds when a crossing trial was administered using hand-pollination. This plant is also a clonal vine, so it is unclear how many genetic individuals occur in each population.

Tina Stanley

12/05/2022

California Botanic Garden collected this species from the wild in April, 2022, and holds it in seed collection as part of the California Plant Rescue seed banking initiative. Seed collected in 2022 which contains 35 seeds from what is likely only one genetic individual. This seed collection is being stored as a single base lot in the California Seed Bank.

Limited seed quantities were collected because of the limited number of fruits with viable seed. We observed issues related to plant health (powdery mildew). The majority of fruits were rotted and molded, and in addition there were a limited number of fruits on the plants because they had been cut back.