FNA: Ipomoea alba vs. Ipomoea tricolor

	Ipomoea alba	Ipomoea tricolor
	moon flower, tropical white morning-glory	granny morning-glory, grannyvine, heavenly blue 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, 60–100 × 25–130 mm, base cordate, surfaces glabrous.
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.	sepals lance-ovate, triangular, or oblong-triangular, (4–)6–7 mm, coriaceous, margins scarious, apex acute, abaxial surface muriculate, glabrous; corolla usually blue to deep blue, sometimes white, tube white outside, pale yellow inside, funnelform, 35–60 mm, limb 50–90 mm diam.
Fruits	20–30 mm.
2n	= 30.

	Ipomoea alba	Ipomoea tricolor
Phenology	Flowering Sep–May.	Flowering Oct–Dec.
Habitat	Forest margins, swamps, moist sites.	Abandoned plantings, thickets.
Elevation	0–100 m. (0–300 ft.)	20–1900 m. (100–6200 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; AR; AZ; FL; GA; KY; LA; MO; MS; NC; PA; SC; TX; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in North America] [BONAP county map]
Discussion		Ipomoea tricolor is native in Mexico and has long been cultivated in North America. The name Ipomoea violacea has been misapplied to plants of I. tricolor. (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. tenuissima, I. ternifolia, I. thurberi, I. triloba, I. violacea, I. wrightii, I. ×leucantha
Synonyms	Calonyction aculeatum, Convolvulus aculeatus
Name authority	Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 161. (1753)	Cavanilles: Icon. 3: 5, plate 208. (1795)
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, MO Plants 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 tricolor

moon flower, tropical white morning-glory

granny morning-glory, grannyvine, heavenly blue 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, 60–100 × 25–130 mm, base cordate, surfaces glabrous.

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.

sepals lance-ovate, triangular, or oblong-triangular, (4–)6–7 mm, coriaceous, margins scarious, apex acute, abaxial surface muriculate, glabrous;

corolla usually blue to deep blue, sometimes white, tube white outside, pale yellow inside, funnelform, 35–60 mm, limb 50–90 mm diam.

Fruits

20–30 mm.

= 30.

Ipomoea alba

Ipomoea tricolor

Phenology

Flowering Sep–May.

Flowering Oct–Dec.

Habitat

Forest margins, swamps, moist sites.

Abandoned plantings, thickets.

Elevation

0–100 m. (0–300 ft.)

20–1900 m. (100–6200 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; AR; AZ; FL; GA; KY; LA; MO; MS; NC; PA; SC; TX; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in North America]

[BONAP county map]

Discussion

Ipomoea tricolor is native in Mexico and has long been cultivated in North America.

The name Ipomoea violacea has been misapplied to plants of I. tricolor.

(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. tenuissima, I. ternifolia, I. thurberi, I. triloba, I. violacea, I. wrightii, I. ×leucantha

Synonyms

Calonyction aculeatum, Convolvulus aculeatus

Name authority

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

Cavanilles: Icon. 3: 5, plate 208. (1795)

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 tricolor

Ipomoea alba

Ipomoea tricolor