FNA: Ipomoea alba vs. Ipomoea tenuissima

	Ipomoea alba	Ipomoea tenuissima
	moon flower, tropical white morning-glory	rockland 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 narrowly hastate or sagittate, sometimes ovate, 15–30 × 7–20 mm, base cordate, hastate, or sagittate, lobes usually pointed, sometimes rounded, surfaces usually ± hairy, adaxial sometimes glabrate.
Peduncles	glabrous.	hairy, 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 lance-oblong, lanceolate, or lance-ovate, 5–8 mm, chartaceous or coriaceous, margins ciliate, apex acuminate, mucronate; corolla lavender, pink, or pink-purple, throat darker inside, funnelform, 30–45 mm.
Fruits	20–30 mm.
2n	= 30.

	Ipomoea alba	Ipomoea tenuissima
Phenology	Flowering Sep–May.	Flowering Aug–Sep.
Habitat	Forest margins, swamps, moist sites.	Pine flatwoods.
Elevation	0–100 m. (0–300 ft.)	0–30 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]	FL [BONAP county map]
Discussion		After fires, Ipomoea tenuissima seeds germinate and seedlings thrive for about a year. The plants then disappear except in sites that remain open. (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. 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. 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)	Choisy in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle: Prodr. 9: 376. (1845)
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 tenuissima

moon flower, tropical white morning-glory

rockland 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 narrowly hastate or sagittate, sometimes ovate, 15–30 × 7–20 mm, base cordate, hastate, or sagittate, lobes usually pointed, sometimes rounded, surfaces usually ± hairy, adaxial sometimes glabrate.

Peduncles

glabrous.

hairy, 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 lance-oblong, lanceolate, or lance-ovate, 5–8 mm, chartaceous or coriaceous, margins ciliate, apex acuminate, mucronate;

corolla lavender, pink, or pink-purple, throat darker inside, funnelform, 30–45 mm.

Fruits

20–30 mm.

= 30.

Ipomoea alba

Ipomoea tenuissima

Phenology

Flowering Sep–May.

Flowering Aug–Sep.

Habitat

Forest margins, swamps, moist sites.

Pine flatwoods.

Elevation

0–100 m. (0–300 ft.)

0–30 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]

Discussion

After fires, Ipomoea tenuissima seeds germinate and seedlings thrive for about a year. The plants then disappear except in sites that remain open.

(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. 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. 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)

Choisy in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle: Prodr. 9: 376. (1845)

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 tenuissima

Ipomoea alba

Ipomoea tenuissima