Flora of North America species comparison

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Ipomoea cairica

Ipomoea batatas

cairo morning glory, mile-a-minute vine

camote, sweet potato, wild sweet potato
Habit Perennials. Perennials, root relatively large, tuberlike.
Stems

usually twining, sometimes trailing.

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

glabrous;

pedicels straight, 10–25 mm.

glabrous or hairy, hairs appressed.
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 lanceolate to oblong, 8–15 mm, chartaceous;

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

glabrous.
2n

= 30.

= 60, 84, 90.

Ipomoea cairica

Ipomoea batatas
Phenology Flowering Mar–Oct. Flowering year-round.
Habitat Abandoned plantings, dis­turbed sites. Abandoned plantings, thickets.
Elevation -20–200 m. (-100–700 ft.) 0–200+ m. (0–700+ ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; CA; FL; LA; Africa [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Mexico (Oaxaca), West Indies, South America]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
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]
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.)
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. 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
Synonyms Convolvulus cairicus Convolvulus batatas
Name authority (Linnaeus) Sweet: Hort. Brit., 287. (1826) (Linnaeus) Lamarck in J. Lamarck and J. Poiret: Tabl. Encycl. 1: 465. (1793)
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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