Birding Travels
In North America

Silky Evolvulus - Evolvulus sericeus var. sericeus
South of Hillsboro New Mexico, USA
August 22, 2016

On August 22, 2016 we took a walk on the mesa just south of Hillsboro.  The day before we had more than an inch of rain and we wanted to see how the Rain Lilly we had found there earlier in the month had fared in the hail and rain.  We had been there the day before the rain taking photographs of Orange Fame Flower.  What a difference a day makes - no Fame Flower blossoms were evident but a lot of Silky Evolvulus, Evolvulus sericeus var. sericeus, was everywhere - where there had been none before (see photographs in this post).

In the recent past, two varieties of this species (E. s. var. sericeus with purple flowers and E. s. discolor with white flowers) were recognized in our area, they have now been lumped into the nominate form referenced here.  There are currently two recognized varieties of this species.  E. s. var. glaberrimus is found only in Florida in the United States (the nominate form is also found in Florida).  The BONAP map to the right shows the distribution of Evolvulus sericeus in the United States.  Light green indicates the species is native to the indicated county and not rare.  Yellow means that the species is rare in that county.  From the United States, the species is found southward to Argentina.

This species is also known by the English common name of Silvery Morning Glory, Silver Morning Glory, White Evolvulus, Silver False Morning-Glory, and Silver Dwarf Morning-Glory.  This species was first described by Olof Swartz in 1788.  

The specimen shown below was collected by Edward Palmer sometime between September 1879 and October 1880, in southwestern Texas.