Carnegiea gigantea, Giant Saguaro

Southwest Desert Flora

Home to the plants of the Sonoran, Chihuahuan and Mojave Deserts

Cirsium ochrocentrum, Yellowspine Thistle

Convolvulaceae, Morning Glory Family

The Morning Glory Family includes the former Cuscutaceae Family.

Morning Glories are popular as showy garden plants throughout the country. Some species of Morning Glories are aggressive weeds while others are locally isolated geographically with little published information. Their automatic inclusion with noxious species should be re-visited. Cuscuta or Dodders are aggressive parasitic plants that cause damage to agricultural and horticultural plants. Morning Glories are distinctive with their funnel-shaped corollas with 5 fused petals and 5 sepals.

Several non-aggressive and relatively rare southwest species, especially in Arizona, are included on Arizona's state noxious weed list and these species should be examined for possible exclusion from the states noxious weeds list.

The Convolvulaceae Family has 57 genera with over 900 accepted species named.

References:
The Plant List. A working list of all known plant species. [accessed 15 February 2015 (accessed 03/30/2015)
http://www.theplantlist.org/browse/A/Convolvulaceae/
The Plant List. a working list of all plant species. [accessed April 14, 2015]
http://www.theplantlist.org/browse/A/Convolvulaceae/Cuscuta/
Wikipedia contributors, 'Convolvulaceae', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 13 February 2015, 22:07 UTC,
[accessed 30 March 2015]
Wikipedia contributors, 'Cuscuta', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 1 March 2015, 04:20 UTC,
[accessed 14 April 2015]
U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service on-line database – ITIS search