The Slender Dwarf Morning Glory is a flowering tropical, herbaceous perennial with showy blue flowers and thin, prostrate to erect, stems that can be woody. It is a small, dwarf, version of morning glory reaching a height of 1 foot, but usually less. The plant tends to spread horizontally on the ground, is dusty green in color with a wooly feel and can be weedy. The genus name comes from the Latin evolvo, meaning to unroll. The species name means resembling a species of the genus Alsine. The Slender Dwarf Morning Glory is native to the southern and southwestern United States, including Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Alabama, and Florida. It is often found in coastal hammocks, coastal rock barrens, and disturbed areas. Slender Dwarf Morning Glory has many branching stems that can become tangled and messy, resembling a bird's nest with dense, long, silver hairs all over. Diseases, Insect Pests, and Other Plant Problems: No known diseases or insect pests.
Curated pairwise relationships between this plant and others in the library — who feeds
whom, who competes, who confuses the pests. Green reads as a good pairing, red as one to avoid.
No curated interactions recorded for this species yet.
Also noted by NC State
Related species the NC State Plant Toolbox flags for this plant — look-alikes to tell
apart, and plants that play a similar role in a planting. Ones we carry in the library are linked.
Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day)
Soil texture
Sand; Shallow Rocky
Soil drainage
Good Drainage | Occasionally Dry
Maintenance
Low
Canopy layer
4 - Herbaceous
Form & Appearance
Habit / form
Creeping; Erect; Prostrate; Spreading
Texture
Medium
Leaf color
Green
Leaf type
Simple
Leaf arrangement
Alternate
Leaf shape
Elliptical; Lanceolate; Oblong; Ovate
Leaf margin
Entire
Leaf size
< 1 inch long, < 1 inch wide
Hairs present
Yes
Leaf detail
Ovate to elliptic leaves with obtuse, acute or acuminate tips, margins entire, alternate, pubescent to wooly, 1/3 to 3/4 inches long.
Flower color
Blue; White
Flower value
Long Bloom Season; Showy
Flower form
Cyme
Flower shape
Wheel
Flower size
< 1 inch
Flower detail
Blooms are usually blue, although sometimes white and last from early spring to the fall. The flowers are wheel-shaped with rounded, sometimes cleft petals, to 1/3 of an inch wide, filaments are 2 to 3 times as long as the anthers, borne on slender, delicate pedicels arising from the leaf axils.
Bloom time
Fall; Spring; Summer
Fruit color
Brown/Copper
Fruit type
Capsule
Fruit detail
Globose, 4-valved, glabrous capsules, with 1 to 4 tan or brown ovoid seeds.
Stem detail
Slender, hairy stems that spread horizontally.
Wildlife & Ecology
Native status
Non-native
Origin
Tropical South America, Africa, Southeast Asia.
Distribution
Some southern United States.
Food & Medicine
Fruit type
Capsule
Uses (ethnobotany)
The plant has been used as animal feed and as a medicine.