FNA: Ipomoea alba vs. Ipomoea nil

	Ipomoea alba	Ipomoea nil
	moon flower, tropical white morning-glory	ivy morning glory, Japanese morning glory, whiteedge 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 cordate, ± orbiculate, ovate, or 3-lobed, 50–150 × 20–140 mm overall, base cordate, surfaces sparsely hirsute to sericeous.
Peduncles	glabrous.	hairy, hairs retrorse.
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-linear, 15–25(–30) mm, herbaceous, proximally narrowly ovate, densely hispid, gradually narrowed to ± straight, hispid to strigose or glabrate distal portion longer than ovate base; corolla usually blue to purplish, sometimes red or white, tube white or yellow inside, funnelform, (20–)30–60+ mm.
Fruits	20–30 mm.
2n	= 30.	= 30.

	Ipomoea alba	Ipomoea nil
Phenology	Flowering Sep–May.	Flowering Jul–Dec.
Habitat	Forest margins, swamps, moist sites.	Abandoned plantings, fields, thickets.
Elevation	0–100 m. (0–300 ft.)	10–2200 m. (0–7200 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]	AL; KY; LA; MD; MS; NC; OK; SC; TN; TX; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Asia] [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Discussion		Reports of Ipomoea nil from California are based on misidentified material of I. hederacea. (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. macrorhiza, I. microdactyla, I. muricata, 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	Convolvulus nil, Pharbitis hederacea, P. nil
Name authority	Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 161. (1753)	(Linnaeus) Roth: Catal. Bot. 1: 36. (1797)
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: LA Plants, MD Biodiversity 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 nil

moon flower, tropical white morning-glory

ivy morning glory, Japanese morning glory, whiteedge 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 cordate, ± orbiculate, ovate, or 3-lobed, 50–150 × 20–140 mm overall, base cordate, surfaces sparsely hirsute to sericeous.

Peduncles

glabrous.

hairy, hairs retrorse.

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-linear, 15–25(–30) mm, herbaceous, proximally narrowly ovate, densely hispid, gradually narrowed to ± straight, hispid to strigose or glabrate distal portion longer than ovate base;

corolla usually blue to purplish, sometimes red or white, tube white or yellow inside, funnelform, (20–)30–60+ mm.

Fruits

20–30 mm.

= 30.

Ipomoea alba

Ipomoea nil

Phenology

Flowering Sep–May.

Flowering Jul–Dec.

Habitat

Forest margins, swamps, moist sites.

Abandoned plantings, fields, thickets.

Elevation

0–100 m. (0–300 ft.)

10–2200 m. (0–7200 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]

AL; KY; LA; MD; MS; NC; OK; SC; TN; TX; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Asia]

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

Discussion

Reports of Ipomoea nil from California are based on misidentified material of I. hederacea.

(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. macrorhiza, I. microdactyla, I. muricata, 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

Convolvulus nil, Pharbitis hederacea, P. nil

Name authority

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

(Linnaeus) Roth: Catal. Bot. 1: 36. (1797)

Web links

Local Web sites: LA Plants, MD Biodiversity
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist (observations)
USDA Plants Database
LBJ Wildflower Center
SEINet
Plants of the World Online
Encyclopedia of Life
Wikipedia
Google Image Search

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 nil

Ipomoea alba

Ipomoea nil