FNA: Ipomoea alba vs. Ipomoea cristulata

	Ipomoea alba	Ipomoea cristulata
	moon flower, tropical white morning-glory	star-glory, trans-Pecos morning-glory
Habit	Perennials.	Annuals.
Stems	twining, usually prickly, sometimes rooting at nodes.	twining.
Leaf	blades broadly ovate to triangular or 3–5-lobed, 50–150 × 50–150 mm, base cordate, surfaces usually glabrous, rarely hairy.	blades usually (3–)5–7-lobed, middle lobe narrowly ± rhombic, sometimes proximal blades cordate to ovate, not lobed, 15–100 × 10–70 mm, base cordate to ± truncate, basal lobes rounded to pointed, margins ± dentate, surfaces glabrous or abaxial pilose.
Peduncles	glabrous.	glabrous.
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.	diurnal, sepals chartaceous to membranous, outers oblong, 3–3.5 mm, apex obtuse, rounded, or ± truncate, each with ± terminal corniform appendage 3–5 mm, glabrous, inners oblong, 4–5.7 mm, apex obtuse to truncate, each with ± terminal corniform appendage 2.5–3.5 mm; corolla red or red-orange, salverform, 18–26 mm, limb 10–15 mm diam. 2n = 30.
Fruits	20–30 mm.
2n	= 30.

	Ipomoea alba	Ipomoea cristulata
Phenology	Flowering Sep–May.	Flowering May–Nov.
Habitat	Forest margins, swamps, moist sites.	Chaparral, grasslands, oak woodlands, ponderosa pine zones.
Elevation	0–100 m. (0–300 ft.)	700–2800 m. (2300–9200 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; IA; KS; NM; TX; Mexico [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Discussion		Reports of Ipomoea cristulata from Iowa and Kansas may be based on cultivated plants; the report for Minnesota probably resulted from typographic error: MN for NM; the report for South Carolina was based on a specimen of I. coccinea. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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. costellata, 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	Quamoclit gracilis
Name authority	Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 161. (1753)	Hallier f.: Meded. Rijks-Herb. 46: 20. (1922)
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	Local Web sites: KS Wildflowers WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Ipomoea cristulata

moon flower, tropical white morning-glory

star-glory, trans-Pecos morning-glory

Habit

Perennials.

Annuals.

Stems

twining, usually prickly, sometimes rooting at nodes.

twining.

Leaf

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

blades usually (3–)5–7-lobed, middle lobe narrowly ± rhombic, sometimes proximal blades cordate to ovate, not lobed, 15–100 × 10–70 mm, base cordate to ± truncate, basal lobes rounded to pointed, margins ± dentate, surfaces glabrous or abaxial pilose.

Peduncles

glabrous.

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.

diurnal, sepals chartaceous to membranous, outers oblong, 3–3.5 mm, apex obtuse, rounded, or ± truncate, each with ± terminal corniform appendage 3–5 mm, glabrous, inners oblong, 4–5.7 mm, apex obtuse to truncate, each with ± terminal corniform appendage 2.5–3.5 mm;

corolla red or red-orange, salverform, 18–26 mm, limb 10–15 mm diam. 2n = 30.

Fruits

20–30 mm.

= 30.

Ipomoea alba

Ipomoea cristulata

Phenology

Flowering Sep–May.

Flowering May–Nov.

Habitat

Forest margins, swamps, moist sites.

Chaparral, grasslands, oak woodlands, ponderosa pine zones.

Elevation

0–100 m. (0–300 ft.)

700–2800 m. (2300–9200 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; IA; KS; NM; TX; Mexico

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

Discussion

Reports of Ipomoea cristulata from Iowa and Kansas may be based on cultivated plants; the report for Minnesota probably resulted from typographic error: MN for NM; the report for South Carolina was based on a specimen of I. coccinea.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

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. costellata, 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

Quamoclit gracilis

Name authority

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

Hallier f.: Meded. Rijks-Herb. 46: 20. (1922)

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 cristulata

Ipomoea alba

Ipomoea cristulata