FNA: Ipomoea alba vs. Ipomoea rupicola

	Ipomoea alba	Ipomoea rupicola
	moon flower, tropical white morning-glory	cliff morning-glory
Habit	Perennials.	Perennials, rhizomatous.
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 usually cordate-ovate to oblong-ovate, sometimes pandurate, 30–90 × 20–70 mm, base cordate-hastate, margins sometimes indented, rarely lobed or toothed, surfaces tomentulose, glabrescent.
Peduncles	glabrous.	hairy, tomentulose, hairs ± appressed.
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 elliptic-oblong to oblong-ovate, 12–14 mm, coriaceous, apex obtuse, rounded, or subacute; corolla lavender-pink or purple, throat darker inside, funnelform, 70–90 mm.
Fruits	20–30 mm.
Seeds		hairy.
2n	= 30.

	Ipomoea alba	Ipomoea rupicola
Phenology	Flowering Sep–May.	Flowering Jun–Oct.
Habitat	Forest margins, swamps, moist sites.	Rocky, open sites.
Elevation	0–100 m. (0–300 ft.)	20–1800 m. (100–5900 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]	TX; Mexico (Tamaulipas) [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. 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. 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)	House: Ann. New York Acad. Sci. 18: 230. (1908)
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 rupicola

moon flower, tropical white morning-glory

cliff morning-glory

Habit

Perennials.

Perennials, rhizomatous.

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 usually cordate-ovate to oblong-ovate, sometimes pandurate, 30–90 × 20–70 mm, base cordate-hastate, margins sometimes indented, rarely lobed or toothed, surfaces tomentulose, glabrescent.

Peduncles

glabrous.

hairy, tomentulose, hairs ± appressed.

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 elliptic-oblong to oblong-ovate, 12–14 mm, coriaceous, apex obtuse, rounded, or subacute;

corolla lavender-pink or purple, throat darker inside, funnelform, 70–90 mm.

Fruits

20–30 mm.

Seeds

hairy.

= 30.

Ipomoea alba

Ipomoea rupicola

Phenology

Flowering Sep–May.

Flowering Jun–Oct.

Habitat

Forest margins, swamps, moist sites.

Rocky, open sites.

Elevation

0–100 m. (0–300 ft.)

20–1800 m. (100–5900 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]

TX; Mexico (Tamaulipas)

[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. 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. 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)

House: Ann. New York Acad. Sci. 18: 230. (1908)

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 rupicola

Ipomoea alba

Ipomoea rupicola