FNA: Ipomoea alba vs. Ipomoea thurberi

	Ipomoea alba	Ipomoea thurberi
	moon flower, tropical white morning-glory	Thurber's morning-glory
Habit	Perennials.	Perennials, root elongate, tuberous.
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 ± sagittate, 10–50 × 20–65 mm overall, base sagittate, or blades palmatisect, lobes 5–7, lanceolate, linear, or oblong, surfaces sparsely strigose.
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.	nocturnal; sepals lanceolate to lance-linear, 12–15 × 3–4 mm, ± herbaceous, base obscurely warty or not, apex acuminate, setaceous-caudate; corolla white, tube green, limb red, rose, drying purple, funnelform-salverform, 50–80 mm, limb 50–65 mm diam.
Fruits	20–30 mm.
2n	= 30.

	Ipomoea alba	Ipomoea thurberi
Phenology	Flowering Sep–May.	Flowering Aug–Sep.
Habitat	Forest margins, swamps, moist sites.	Oak woodlands, rocky sites.
Elevation	0–100 m. (0–300 ft.)	1100–1600 m. (3600–5200 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; Mexico (Chihuahua, Sonora) [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. rupicola, I. sagittata, I. setosa, I. shumardiana, I. sloteri, I. tenuiloba, I. tenuissima, I. ternifolia, I. tricolor, I. triloba, I. violacea, I. wrightii, I. ×leucantha
Synonyms	Calonyction aculeatum, Convolvulus aculeatus	I. gentryi
Name authority	Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 161. (1753)	A. Gray in A. Gray et al.: Syn. Fl. N. Amer. 2(1): 212. (1878)
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 thurberi

moon flower, tropical white morning-glory

Thurber's morning-glory

Habit

Perennials.

Perennials, root elongate, tuberous.

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 ± sagittate, 10–50 × 20–65 mm overall, base sagittate, or blades palmatisect, lobes 5–7, lanceolate, linear, or oblong, surfaces sparsely strigose.

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.

nocturnal;

sepals lanceolate to lance-linear, 12–15 × 3–4 mm, ± herbaceous, base obscurely warty or not, apex acuminate, setaceous-caudate;

corolla white, tube green, limb red, rose, drying purple, funnelform-salverform, 50–80 mm, limb 50–65 mm diam.

Fruits

20–30 mm.

= 30.

Ipomoea alba

Ipomoea thurberi

Phenology

Flowering Sep–May.

Flowering Aug–Sep.

Habitat

Forest margins, swamps, moist sites.

Oak woodlands, rocky sites.

Elevation

0–100 m. (0–300 ft.)

1100–1600 m. (3600–5200 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; Mexico (Chihuahua, Sonora)

[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. rupicola, I. sagittata, I. setosa, I. shumardiana, I. sloteri, I. tenuiloba, I. tenuissima, I. ternifolia, I. tricolor, I. triloba, I. violacea, I. wrightii, I. ×leucantha

Synonyms

Calonyction aculeatum, Convolvulus aculeatus

I. gentryi

Name authority

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

A. Gray in A. Gray et al.: Syn. Fl. N. Amer. 2(1): 212. (1878)

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 thurberi

Ipomoea alba

Ipomoea thurberi