Ipomoea lobata

Fire vine, Spanish flag, Exotic love vine

Message of the Flower

Thirst to Learn

The Mother’s Comment

One of the qualities that facilitate integral progress.

Spiritual Message by the Mother/ Quotes by Sri Aurobindo

Give up all personal seeking for comfort, satisfaction, enjoyment or happiness. Be only a burning fire for progress, take whatever comes to you as an aid to your progress and immediately make whatever progress is required.

The Mother, On Education: Psychic Education and Spiritual Education

Above all, it is the will for progress and self-purification which lights the fire. The will for progress. Those who have a strong will, when they turn it towards spiritual progress and purification, automatically light the fire within themselves.

The Mother, Questions and Answers 1956: 8 August 1956

The thirst for progress, the thirst to know, the thirst to transform yourself, and above all the thirst for Love and Truth—if you can keep that, then you go faster. Really a thirst, a need, you know, a need… All the rest doesn't matter, what you need is THAT.

The Mother, Mother's Agenda: October 7, 1964

No more bonds—free, free, free, free! Always ready to change everything, except ONE thing: to aspire. That thirst… The "something" we need, the Perfection we need, the Light we need, the Love we need, the Truth we need, the supreme Perfection we need—and that's all. The formulas… the fewer the formulas, the better. A need, a need, a need… that THE Thing alone can satisfy, nothing else, no half measure. That alone. And then, move on! Move on! Your path will be your path, it doesn't matter; any path, any path whatever, even the follies of today's American youth can be a path, it doesn't matter.

The Mother, Mother's Agenda: October 7, 1964

Colour

Bright red to yellow

Family

Convolvulaceae

Person who named the flower

Carl Ludwig Willdenow

Flower Size

Approximately 2 inches long

Flower Texture

Smooth

Number of Petals

5 (fused into a tube)

Floral Symmetry

Bilateral

Fragrance of Flower

None notable

Leaf Texture

Slightly hairy

Leaf Arrangement

Alternate

Leaf Color

Green

Structural Variation (Shrub or Tree)

Vine

Life Cycle

Perennial in warm climates, often grown as annual in cooler areas

Blooming Period

Late summer to fall

Climate

Warm and temperate

Water Requirements

Moderate, needs regular watering

Soil Type

Well-drained, fertile

Temperature Ranges

Not frost-tolerant

Sun or Shade

Full sun to part shade

Susceptibility to Insects and Diseases

Aphids, fungal diseases in humid conditions

Pollinators

Hummingbirds, some butterflies

Habitat

Native to Central and South America, cultivated in gardens

Role in the Ecosystem

Provides nectar for pollinators

Quotations

Not specifically quoted

Ornamental

Highly valued for colorful, cascading flowers

Uses in Other Aspects of Life

Gardening, landscape design for visual impact

Endangered Status

Not endangered, widely cultivated