Convolvulaceae, the Morning Glory Family
Littlebell is a vine with a twining or creeping habit. It is not a high climber but is more often seen scrambling through grasses and over low shrubs. Stems rarely exceed 10 feet. When cut, the stems and the petioles (leaf stalks) exude a small amount of milky sap. The leaves are variable in size (ranging from ¾ to 3 ¼ inches long) and in outline (heart-shaped, three-lobed or five-lobed). Flowers are borne in the leaf axils; they are sometimes solitary but more often in small clusters. The pink to pale purple flowers measure ½ to 1 inch long and are funnelform (gradually widening from base to apex) with five short lobes, each ending in a short, abrupt point. The sepals are in two unequal whorls (the outer two shorter than the inner three), oblong in shape, with minutely ciliate margins and ending in a distinct, abrupt point. The fruit are small (about ¼ inch wide), globose capsules with a persistent style. Each capsule contains two to four dark brown seeds.
This species is native to the West Indies, Mexico, Belize and Trinidad, but it is now widely naturalized throughout the tropics.
The first record of littlebell in Florida is from Monroe County in 1891. By the 1980s, it was recognized as a serious weed of citrus groves, especially in Hendry County. Littlebell has now been documented from many Florida counties, including the entire southern peninsula, parts of the central and northern peninsula, and the central panhandle. It is typically found on disturbed sites such residential landscapes, nurseries, abandoned homesites, agricultural fields, orchards, old pastures and highway and utility corridors.
Littlebell is most likely to be confused with tievine (Ipomoea cordatotriloba, previously known as Ipomoea trichocarpa), a native species that is frequently found on disturbed sites throughout Florida. It is also very similar to the cultivated sweet potato, Ipomoea batatas. However, both of those species have flowers 1 ¼ to 3 inches long, while the flowers of littlebell are always less than an inch long. Whitestar (Ipomoea lacunosa) is a native morning glory with a low, scrambling habit and flowers as small as those of littlebell, but its flowers are white with purple anthers (littlebell flowers are pink or purple with white anthers). Ivyleaf morning glory (Ipomoea hederacea) is a nonnative weedy species with small pink to purple flowers, but it can be distinguished by its sepals. They have very narrow elongated green tips that are even longer than the basal portion.
There is little specific information on the dispersal of this species. In general, morning glory seeds are dispersed by gravity, wind or rain. Some species are dispersed by ground-dwelling birds, turtles or other small vertebrates. Seeds may also be dispersed as contaminants in mechanically harvested grains. Littlebell is occasionally cultivated and may escape from cultivation.
Many references describe this species as an annual (flowering, fruiting and dying within one year), but in fire-prone habitats in Australia it has behaved as a perennial, developing a lignified tuber over time.