Flora of North America species comparison

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Ipomoea batatas

Ipomoea imperati

camote, sweet potato, wild sweet potato

beach morning-glory
Habit Perennials, root relatively large, tuberlike. Perennials.
Stems

± trailing, rarely twining.

repent, rooting at nodes and underground.
Leaf

blades cordate, broadly ovate, or 5–7-lobed, 50–100+ × 40–100 mm overall, base cordate, surfaces glabrous or hairy.

blades lanceolate, linear, oblong, ovate, or 3–5-lobed, 15–80 × 12–60 mm, base cordate to truncate, surfaces glabrous.
Peduncles

glabrous or hairy, hairs appressed.

glabrous.
Flowers

sepals lanceolate to oblong, 8–15 mm, chartaceous;

corolla usually lavender, pink, or purplish, sometimes white, throat usually darker inside, funnelform, (30–)40–70 mm.

sepals lance-oblong, 10–15 mm, outers shorter than inners, ± coriaceous, apex acute to obtuse, abaxial surface glabrous;

corolla white, throat usually yellow, sometimes purplish inside, funnelform, 25–50 mm.
Seeds

glabrous.

2n

= 60, 84, 90.

= 30.

Ipomoea batatas

Ipomoea imperati
Phenology Flowering year-round. Flowering year-round.
Habitat Abandoned plantings, thickets. Beaches, dunes.
Elevation 0–200+ m. (0–700+ ft.) 0–10 m. (0–0 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
FL; KS; LA; MS; NC; NY; PA; SC; TX; UT; VA; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Asia, Africa]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX; HI; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Reports of Ipomoea batatas from northern parts of the flora area appear to be based on ephemerals.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Ipomoea imperati was collected once in Pennsylvania (on ballast in 1865). The names I. littoralis (Linnaeus) Boissier 1875, not Blume 1826, and I. stolonifera (Cirillo) J. F. Gmelin are illegitimate; both have been misapplied to plants of I. imperati.

(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. alba, I. amnicola, I. aquatica, I. asarifolia, I. barbatisepala, 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. 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
Synonyms Convolvulus batatas Convolvulus imperati
Name authority (Linnaeus) Lamarck in J. Lamarck and J. Poiret: Tabl. Encycl. 1: 465. (1793) (Vahl) Grisebach: Cat. Pl. Cub., 203. (1866)
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).



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