FNA: Ipomoea cairica vs. Ipomoea aquatica

	Ipomoea cairica	Ipomoea aquatica
	cairo morning glory, mile-a-minute vine	swamp morning-glory, water-spinach
Habit	Perennials.	Perennials.
Stems	usually twining, sometimes trailing.	usually repent, rooting at nodes, sometimes floating, rarely twining.
Leaf	blades orbiculate to ovate, 30–100 × 30–100 mm overall, palmatisect, lobes 5 (proximal 2 sometimes 2-lobed), lance-elliptic, lanceolate, or lance-ovate, (5–)10–25(–70) × (3–)8–15(–30) mm, apex acute to obtuse, surfaces glabrous.	blades ± hastate to lanceolate, 40–120 × 20–60 mm, base ± cordate or hastate to truncate, terminal lobe broadly to narrowly triangular or lanceolate, surfaces glabrescent.
Peduncles	glabrous; pedicels straight, 10–25 mm.	glabrous.
Flowers	sepals oblong to ovate, 4–6.5(–9) mm, outers slightly shorter than inners, chartaceous, margins scarious, apex obtuse to acute; corolla lavender-blue or white, throat purplish-red, funnelform, 45–60 mm.	sepals elliptic-ovate to oblong-ovate, 6–8 mm, chartaceous or coriaceous, apex acute or obtuse, mucronulate; corolla usually purple, rarely white, funnelform, 40–50 mm.
2n	= 30.	= 30.

	Ipomoea cairica	Ipomoea aquatica
Phenology	Flowering Mar–Oct.	Flowering year-round.
Habitat	Abandoned plantings, disturbed sites.	Abandoned plantings, wet sites.
Elevation	-20–200 m. (-100–700 ft.)	0–100 m. (0–300 ft.)
Distribution	AL; CA; FL; LA; Africa [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Mexico (Oaxaca), West Indies, South America] [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	CA; FL; Mexico; Central America; South America; Asia; Africa; Australia [Introduced in North America] [BONAP county map]
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. batatas, 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. 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
Synonyms	Convolvulus cairicus
Name authority	(Linnaeus) Sweet: Hort. Brit., 287. (1826)	Forsskål: Fl. Aegypt.-Arab., 44. (1775)
Web links	Local floras: CA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, 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: CalFlora, CalPhotos WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Ipomoea aquatica

cairo morning glory, mile-a-minute vine

swamp morning-glory, water-spinach

Habit

Perennials.

Stems

usually twining, sometimes trailing.

usually repent, rooting at nodes, sometimes floating, rarely twining.

Leaf

blades orbiculate to ovate, 30–100 × 30–100 mm overall, palmatisect, lobes 5 (proximal 2 sometimes 2-lobed), lance-elliptic, lanceolate, or lance-ovate, (5–)10–25(–70) × (3–)8–15(–30) mm, apex acute to obtuse, surfaces glabrous.

blades ± hastate to lanceolate, 40–120 × 20–60 mm, base ± cordate or hastate to truncate, terminal lobe broadly to narrowly triangular or lanceolate, surfaces glabrescent.

Peduncles

glabrous;

pedicels straight, 10–25 mm.

glabrous.

Flowers

sepals oblong to ovate, 4–6.5(–9) mm, outers slightly shorter than inners, chartaceous, margins scarious, apex obtuse to acute;

corolla lavender-blue or white, throat purplish-red, funnelform, 45–60 mm.

sepals elliptic-ovate to oblong-ovate, 6–8 mm, chartaceous or coriaceous, apex acute or obtuse, mucronulate;

corolla usually purple, rarely white, funnelform, 40–50 mm.

= 30.

Ipomoea cairica

Ipomoea aquatica

Phenology

Flowering Mar–Oct.

Flowering year-round.

Habitat

Abandoned plantings, disturbed sites.

Abandoned plantings, wet sites.

Elevation

-20–200 m. (-100–700 ft.)

0–100 m. (0–300 ft.)

Distribution

AL; CA; FL; LA; Africa [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Mexico (Oaxaca), West Indies, South America]

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

CA; FL; Mexico; Central America; South America; Asia; Africa; Australia [Introduced in North America]

[BONAP county map]

Source

FNA vol. 14.

Parent taxa

Convolvulaceae > Ipomoea

Sibling taxa

I. alba, I. amnicola, I. aquatica, I. asarifolia, I. barbatisepala, I. batatas, 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. 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

Synonyms

Convolvulus cairicus

Name authority

(Linnaeus) Sweet: Hort. Brit., 287. (1826)

Forsskål: Fl. Aegypt.-Arab., 44. (1775)

Web links

Local floras: CA
Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, LA Plants
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist (observations)
USDA Plants Database
LBJ Wildflower Center
SEINet
Plants of the World Online
Encyclopedia of Life
Wikipedia
Google Image Search

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 cairica

Ipomoea aquatica

Ipomoea cairica

Ipomoea aquatica