ABSTRACT
Varieties of I. tricolor containing lysergic acid include “Heavenly Blue,” “Pearly gates,” “Summer skies,” “Blue star,” and “Wedding bells.”2 Not all species of Ipomoea contain the lysergic type alkaloids, but instead have various other non-toxic alkaloids. Some of the species grown as garden ornamentals with low lysergic acid content include I. alba (Moon vine), I. coccinea (red morning glory), I. nil (Scarlet O’Hara), and I. xsloteri (cardinal climber).3 Depending on the quantity of seeds that are well chewed and swallowed, the effects vary from marked hallucinations, incoordination, lethargy, diarrhea, to, in rats, increased mortality.4,5
Species of Ipomoea from Africa, and Australia (I. carnea) have been shown to contain the alkaloids swainsonine and calestegins that inhibit the cellular enzyme mannosidase and cause lysosomal storage disease.6,7 These same alkaloids are found in other species including Astragalus, Oxytropis (locoweeds), Convolulus (bindweed) and Calestegia (hedge bindweed).8 These exotic species of morning glory are also capable of causing anemia and hepatic necrosis in ruminants that eat the leaves and seeds.9
