FNA: Ipomoea alba vs. Ipomoea macrorhiza

	Ipomoea alba	Ipomoea macrorhiza
	moon flower, tropical white morning-glory	large-root morning glory
Habit	Perennials.	Perennials, root relatively large, tuberlike.
Stems	twining, usually prickly, sometimes rooting at nodes.	trailing or twining.
Leaf	blades broadly ovate to triangular or 3–5-lobed, 50–150 × 50–150 mm, base cordate, surfaces usually glabrous, rarely hairy.	blades ovate, triangular-ovate, or 3-lobed, 50–150 × 50–150 mm, base cordate to sagittate or truncate, margins ± crenulate, surfaces: abaxial tomentulose, adaxial glabrous, minutely beaded along veinlets.
Peduncles	glabrous.	tomentulose.
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.	nocturnal; sepals oblong-elliptic, 16–18 mm, coriaceous, sericeous; corolla white, throat lavender to purple inside, salverform, 50–80 mm.
Fruits	20–30 mm.
2n	= 30.

	Ipomoea alba	Ipomoea macrorhiza
Phenology	Flowering Sep–May.	Flowering Jun–Jul.
Habitat	Forest margins, swamps, moist sites.	Beaches, clearings, dunes.
Elevation	0–100 m. (0–300 ft.)	0–40 m. (0–100 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]	AL; FL; GA; MS; NC; SC [BONAP county map]
Discussion		Ipomoea macrorhiza has been confused with the Mexican and Central American I. jalapa (Linnaeus) Pursh; I. macrorhiza differs by having nocturnal, moth-pollinated flowers with white corollas versus matinal, bee-pollinated flowers with lavender corollas. (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. cristulata, I. dumetorum, I. hederacea, I. hederifolia, I. imperati, I. indica, I. lacunosa, I. leptophylla, I. lindheimeri, I. longifolia, 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
Name authority	Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 161. (1753)	Michaux: Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 141. (1803)
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 macrorhiza

moon flower, tropical white morning-glory

large-root morning glory

Habit

Perennials.

Perennials, root relatively large, tuberlike.

Stems

twining, usually prickly, sometimes rooting at nodes.

trailing or twining.

Leaf

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

blades ovate, triangular-ovate, or 3-lobed, 50–150 × 50–150 mm, base cordate to sagittate or truncate, margins ± crenulate, surfaces: abaxial tomentulose, adaxial glabrous, minutely beaded along veinlets.

Peduncles

glabrous.

tomentulose.

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.

nocturnal;

sepals oblong-elliptic, 16–18 mm, coriaceous, sericeous;

corolla white, throat lavender to purple inside, salverform, 50–80 mm.

Fruits

20–30 mm.

= 30.

Ipomoea alba

Ipomoea macrorhiza

Phenology

Flowering Sep–May.

Flowering Jun–Jul.

Habitat

Forest margins, swamps, moist sites.

Beaches, clearings, dunes.

Elevation

0–100 m. (0–300 ft.)

0–40 m. (0–100 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]

AL; FL; GA; MS; NC; SC

[BONAP county map]

Discussion

Ipomoea macrorhiza has been confused with the Mexican and Central American I. jalapa (Linnaeus) Pursh; I. macrorhiza differs by having nocturnal, moth-pollinated flowers with white corollas versus matinal, bee-pollinated flowers with lavender corollas.

(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. cristulata, I. dumetorum, I. hederacea, I. hederifolia, I. imperati, I. indica, I. lacunosa, I. leptophylla, I. lindheimeri, I. longifolia, 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

Name authority

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

Michaux: Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 141. (1803)

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 macrorhiza

Ipomoea alba

Ipomoea macrorhiza