Hey,

Is there a qualitative (or potency) difference between different strains of Morning Glory Seeds? Like, between Heavenly Blue, Pearly Gates, Flying Saucers, Grandpa Ott, etc.

I like purple.

Only I tricolor has serious potency, which discounts grandpa otts. Heavenly blue, pearly gates, flying saucers and the rarer purplish wedding bells variety.

And because the alks are made by an endophytic fungus, there's possibly less variation between varieties than otherwise. There were a few old papers comparing strain alks, I think heavenly blue was usually slightly ahead but not by much.

Thanks. Good to know.

I didn't know the alkaloids were made by a fungus! V interesting. Symbiosis, I guess.

Also, now I see that Ipomoea is a huge genus. I wonder if any of the other species have psychoactive or at least partially, kindasorta pseudo-psychoactive properties. I bet they do.

I was just looking over some data on morning glories again and looking at this thread.

There are most definitely other Ipomoea species that contain ergolines and clavines.
BundleFlowerPower posted one such successful bioassay with I. sagittata shortly after this thread. Although fascinatingly I haven't seen this species listed as containing ergolines in the papers I've looked at (at least yet).

First is a chart from Eckart Eich's Solanaceae and Convolvulaceae: Secondary Metabolites

This second source collated some interesting information from databases, although some aspects of this paper seem a bit fishy, such as directly calling lysergol and clavines "psychotomimetic". Nor does I. tricolor contain ergotamine to my knowledge. Not to mention the typos. A Review of the Genus Ipomoea by Meira et al.
It does make mention of the fabled analgesic ipalbi(di)n and containing species, as mentioned by DWFZ in the Which are the active components of MGs? thread. Which is also where I think I found this paper... Google Scholar reaveals only 11 papers, mostly in German or irrelevant to the pharmacological potential of ipalbin.

~~

Looking at this chart I saw that Ipomoea hederacea supposedly contains lysergol, elymoclavine, penniclavine, and [C]hanoclavine 1, but no reported LSA. It also has a wider range than Ipomoea tricolor, which struggles to adapt to certain climates like mine, which is always good...

Ipomoea hederacea is apparently a highly useful plant.

They also mention the seeds have cathartic properties like jalap.

There is an online seed merchant that claims it is known that the flowers are used for sedative purposes. Is this some sort of confusion regarding Heavenly Blue flowers?


Hey anyone at the Nexus need more obscure gardening projects?

Thanks for all the info, kerelsk. Are the attached images excerpted from Eckart Eich's Solanaceae and Convolvulaceae: Secondary Metabolites?

I get the impression that the right balance of nutrients will have a positive effect on the potency of the seeds.

The first 3 pictures are from Eich's work, and the last pictures are from Meira et al.'s.

Having recently looked at the Which are the active components of MGs? thread recently- somebody (can't remember who atm) mentioned that the highest alkaloid concentrations came from plants in lower light conditions. Presumably since the endophytic fungus has a more favorable environment to produce ergolines.

As far as nutrients go, I'd imagine you're right, DWFZ. A healthier plant can deliver more nutrients to the fungus.

It's a bit unfortunate in areas with killing frost, because conventional gardening wisdom in temperate zones would usually say to plant Ipomoea tricolor in poor soils so as to force an earlier flowering. In rich soils the plant will be encouraged to produce much vegetative growth, and tends to be killed by frost before fully maturing its seeds. This species also seems less able to withstand the wet cold of northeastern USA than Ipomoea purpurea for comparison which is a common weed.

Colder areas may actually be more productive than the middle ground of a hot summer, cold winter area. The plant is reputed to set seed during long day periods when the air is cool (~55-65F / ~13-18C), but during short day periods when in hotter conditions. I imagine this is an adaptation to handle both upland and valley areas in Mexico. According to BONAP, I. tricolor is introduced in PA & MA, so perhaps some strains have adapted. If I ever find any I'll be really impressed!

Within their subtropical native range I imagine they get to enjoy October, November, December to set seed.

I have 6 tricolor plants I'm letting grow up my deck outdoors. They're five feet across but have not begun to flower, yet. I've read previously that flowering is triggered by the duration of daylight the plants receive similar to cannabis. I'm curious about the actives found within the seeds. One thing I know for sure is the plants do not love direct sunlight for too long during hot days. The plants are resistant to insects but have noticed ants farming oleander aphids on various spots recently.

Tregar (ava) was spreading a ton of information over on mycotopia and here on the nexus about morning glory plants and alkaloid content. It's worth a read if interested.

I am growing a couple Rivea Corymbosa plants indoors. They really love the shade and thrive in moderate humid environemnts. I'm much more curious about this plant and am pretty excited to see if I can get some flowers from them.

Just stumbling in here… the call for gardening projects piqued my interest (farmer in the northeast). I wonder if greenhouse protection would help. Are there any ssp that seem most ideal?