Aurora Delight

John Russell Hayes

Aurora

 

When the rising sun is tinting

All the sky with opal hue,

Comes the sweet Aurora tripping

For her morning draught of dew.

 

There she quaffs the rose's nectar,

And the morning-glory's wine;

Hyacinthine honey sips she,

Vowing it a drink divine.

 

And the lovely flowers regretful

As they see her go away,

Sighing forth their gentle sorrow,

Breathe a fragrance all the day.

 

2019 08 12_9457.jpgh

 

A morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books.

Walt Whitman

 

Morning glory (also written as morning-glory[1]) is the common name for over 1,000 species of flowering plants in the family Convolvulaceae, whose current taxonomy and systematics are in flux. Morning glory species belong to many genera, some of which are:

Argyreia

Astripomoea

Calystegia

Convolvulus

Ipomoea

Lepistemon

Merremia

Operculina

Rivea

Stictocardia

 

Morning glory was first known in China for its medicinal uses, due to the laxative properties of its seeds.

Ancient Mesoamerican civilizations used the morning glory species Ipomoea alba to convert the latex from the Castilla elastica tree and also the guayule plant to produce bouncing rubber balls [2]. The sulfur in the morning glory's juice served to vulcanize the rubber, a process predating Charles Goodyear's discovery by at least 3,000 years.[3] Aztec priests in Mexico were also known to use the plant's hallucinogenic properties (see Rivea corymbosa).

Done