Seed ergot alkaloid contents of Ipomoea hederifolia, I. quamoclit, I. coccinea and I. wrightii

Ergot alkaloides were extracted from seed of native, wild‐type morning glories (i.e. Texas red morning glory ( Ipomoea hederifolia L.), cypress vine morning glory ( I. quamoclit L.), red morning glory (I. coccinea L.) and palmleaf morning glory (I. wrightii Gray) and quantified by spectrophotometry as ergonovine maleate equivalents. A horticultural variety (I. tricolor Cav. cv. Heavenly Blue) was utilized for comparison and contained 0.052% total alkaloids in the seed. Total ergot alkaloids in these four native, wild‐type morning glories ranged from 0.003 to 0.005% (i.e. 5.97 to 9.77% of the alkaloids found in Heavenly Blue seed) and were not present in sufficient quantity to induce any psychotomimetic hazard. Major alkaloids found in these wild‐type morning glory species were separated and identified by two‐dimensional thin‐layer chromatography and co‐chromatography with authenticated standards. Alkaloids identified included chanoclavine, elymoclavine, penniclavine, ergonovinine, agroclavine, ergonovine, ergosine and ergosinine. Alkaloids varied between morning glory species.