FNA: Ipomoea alba vs. Ipomoea costellata

	Ipomoea alba	Ipomoea costellata
	moon flower, tropical white morning-glory	crest-rib morning glory
Habit	Perennials.	Annuals.
Stems	twining, usually prickly, sometimes rooting at nodes.	usually trailing, or twining only near tips, rarely erect.
Leaf	blades broadly ovate to triangular or 3–5-lobed, 50–150 × 50–150 mm, base cordate, surfaces usually glabrous, rarely hairy.	blades palmatisect, lobes 5–9, lance-linear, linear, oblanceolate, or spatulate, 7–28 × 0.5–3(–8) mm, surfaces glabrous or sparsely hispidulous.
Peduncles	glabrous.	usually glabrous, rarely sparsely hispidulous.
Flowers	nocturnal; sepals ovate, 7–15 mm, ± coriaceous, apex acute, outers each with midrib extending as ± corniform appendage; corolla white, throat green-banded inside, salverform, 70–150 mm.	sepals lance-oblong to lanceolate, outers 3–5 × 1–2 mm, inners 4–6 × 2–3 mm, herbaceous, apex acute, abaxial surface usually ± carinate and glabrous, sometimes hispidulous on midrib; corolla pale lavender to pink, funnelform, 10–12 mm.
Fruits	20–30 mm.
2n	= 30.

	Ipomoea alba	Ipomoea costellata
Phenology	Flowering Sep–May.	Flowering Jul–Nov.
Habitat	Forest margins, swamps, moist sites.	Chaparral, oak woodlands, ponderosa pine zone, rocky sites.
Elevation	0–100 m. (0–300 ft.)	100–2200 m. (300–7200 ft.)
Distribution	FL; LA; SC; TX; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Asia] [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	AZ; NM; TX; Mexico [Introduced in South America] [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Source	FNA vol. 14.	FNA vol. 14.
Parent taxa	Convolvulaceae > Ipomoea	Convolvulaceae > Ipomoea
Sibling taxa	I. amnicola, I. aquatica, I. asarifolia, I. barbatisepala, I. batatas, I. cairica, I. capillacea, I. cardiophylla, I. carnea, I. coccinea, I. cordatotriloba, I. costellata, I. cristulata, I. dumetorum, I. hederacea, I. hederifolia, I. imperati, I. indica, I. lacunosa, I. leptophylla, I. lindheimeri, I. longifolia, I. macrorhiza, I. microdactyla, I. muricata, I. nil, I. pandurata, I. pes-caprae, I. plummerae, I. pubescens, I. purpurea, I. quamoclit, I. rupicola, I. sagittata, I. setosa, I. shumardiana, I. sloteri, I. tenuiloba, I. tenuissima, I. ternifolia, I. thurberi, I. tricolor, I. triloba, I. violacea, I. wrightii, I. ×leucantha	I. alba, I. amnicola, I. aquatica, I. asarifolia, I. barbatisepala, I. batatas, I. cairica, I. capillacea, I. cardiophylla, I. carnea, I. coccinea, I. cordatotriloba, I. cristulata, I. dumetorum, I. hederacea, I. hederifolia, I. imperati, I. indica, I. lacunosa, I. leptophylla, I. lindheimeri, I. longifolia, I. macrorhiza, I. microdactyla, I. muricata, I. nil, I. pandurata, I. pes-caprae, I. plummerae, I. pubescens, I. purpurea, I. quamoclit, I. rupicola, I. sagittata, I. setosa, I. shumardiana, I. sloteri, I. tenuiloba, I. tenuissima, I. ternifolia, I. thurberi, I. tricolor, I. triloba, I. violacea, I. wrightii, I. ×leucantha
Synonyms	Calonyction aculeatum, Convolvulus aculeatus	I. costellata var. edwardsensis
Name authority	Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 161. (1753)	Torrey in W. H. Emory: Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 149. (1859)
Web links	Local Web sites: LA Plants WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search	WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Ipomoea alba

Ipomoea costellata

moon flower, tropical white morning-glory

crest-rib morning glory

Habit

Perennials.

Annuals.

Stems

twining, usually prickly, sometimes rooting at nodes.

usually trailing, or twining only near tips, rarely erect.

Leaf

blades broadly ovate to triangular or 3–5-lobed, 50–150 × 50–150 mm, base cordate, surfaces usually glabrous, rarely hairy.

blades palmatisect, lobes 5–9, lance-linear, linear, oblanceolate, or spatulate, 7–28 × 0.5–3(–8) mm, surfaces glabrous or sparsely hispidulous.

Peduncles

glabrous.

usually glabrous, rarely sparsely hispidulous.

Flowers

nocturnal;

sepals ovate, 7–15 mm, ± coriaceous, apex acute, outers each with midrib extending as ± corniform appendage;

corolla white, throat green-banded inside, salverform, 70–150 mm.

sepals lance-oblong to lanceolate, outers 3–5 × 1–2 mm, inners 4–6 × 2–3 mm, herbaceous, apex acute, abaxial surface usually ± carinate and glabrous, sometimes hispidulous on midrib;

corolla pale lavender to pink, funnelform, 10–12 mm.

Fruits

20–30 mm.

= 30.

Ipomoea alba

Ipomoea costellata

Phenology

Flowering Sep–May.

Flowering Jul–Nov.

Habitat

Forest margins, swamps, moist sites.

Chaparral, oak woodlands, ponderosa pine zone, rocky sites.

Elevation

0–100 m. (0–300 ft.)

100–2200 m. (300–7200 ft.)

Distribution

FL; LA; SC; TX; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Asia]

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

AZ; NM; TX; Mexico [Introduced in South America]

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

Source

FNA vol. 14.

Parent taxa

Convolvulaceae > Ipomoea

Sibling taxa

I. amnicola, I. aquatica, I. asarifolia, I. barbatisepala, I. batatas, I. cairica, I. capillacea, I. cardiophylla, I. carnea, I. coccinea, I. cordatotriloba, I. costellata, I. cristulata, I. dumetorum, I. hederacea, I. hederifolia, I. imperati, I. indica, I. lacunosa, I. leptophylla, I. lindheimeri, I. longifolia, I. macrorhiza, I. microdactyla, I. muricata, I. nil, I. pandurata, I. pes-caprae, I. plummerae, I. pubescens, I. purpurea, I. quamoclit, I. rupicola, I. sagittata, I. setosa, I. shumardiana, I. sloteri, I. tenuiloba, I. tenuissima, I. ternifolia, I. thurberi, I. tricolor, I. triloba, I. violacea, I. wrightii, I. ×leucantha

I. alba, I. amnicola, I. aquatica, I. asarifolia, I. barbatisepala, I. batatas, I. cairica, I. capillacea, I. cardiophylla, I. carnea, I. coccinea, I. cordatotriloba, I. cristulata, I. dumetorum, I. hederacea, I. hederifolia, I. imperati, I. indica, I. lacunosa, I. leptophylla, I. lindheimeri, I. longifolia, I. macrorhiza, I. microdactyla, I. muricata, I. nil, I. pandurata, I. pes-caprae, I. plummerae, I. pubescens, I. purpurea, I. quamoclit, I. rupicola, I. sagittata, I. setosa, I. shumardiana, I. sloteri, I. tenuiloba, I. tenuissima, I. ternifolia, I. thurberi, I. tricolor, I. triloba, I. violacea, I. wrightii, I. ×leucantha

Synonyms

Calonyction aculeatum, Convolvulus aculeatus

I. costellata var. edwardsensis

Name authority

Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 161. (1753)

Torrey in W. H. Emory: Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 149. (1859)

Web links

Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).

Choose a data source: Flora of North America

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Flora of North America species comparison

Ipomoea alba

Ipomoea costellata

Ipomoea alba

Ipomoea costellata