FNA: Ipomoea cairica vs. Ipomoea macrorhiza

	Ipomoea cairica	Ipomoea macrorhiza
	cairo morning glory, mile-a-minute vine	large-root morning glory
Habit	Perennials.	Perennials, root relatively large, tuberlike.
Stems	usually twining, sometimes trailing.	trailing or 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 ovate, triangular-ovate, or 3-lobed, 50–150 × 50–150 mm, base cordate to sagittate or truncate, margins ± crenulate, surfaces: abaxial tomentulose, adaxial glabrous, minutely beaded along veinlets.
Peduncles	glabrous; pedicels straight, 10–25 mm.	tomentulose.
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.	nocturnal; sepals oblong-elliptic, 16–18 mm, coriaceous, sericeous; corolla white, throat lavender to purple inside, salverform, 50–80 mm.
2n	= 30.

	Ipomoea cairica	Ipomoea macrorhiza
Phenology	Flowering Mar–Oct.	Flowering Jun–Jul.
Habitat	Abandoned plantings, disturbed sites.	Beaches, clearings, dunes.
Elevation	-20–200 m. (-100–700 ft.)	0–40 m. (0–100 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]	AL; FL; GA; MS; NC; SC [BONAP county map]
Discussion		Ipomoea macrorhiza has been confused with the Mexican and Central American I. jalapa (Linnaeus) Pursh; I. macrorhiza differs by having nocturnal, moth-pollinated flowers with white corollas versus matinal, bee-pollinated flowers with lavender corollas. (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. 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. 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)	Michaux: Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 141. (1803)
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	WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Ipomoea macrorhiza

cairo morning glory, mile-a-minute vine

large-root morning glory

Habit

Perennials.

Perennials, root relatively large, tuberlike.

Stems

usually twining, sometimes trailing.

trailing or 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 ovate, triangular-ovate, or 3-lobed, 50–150 × 50–150 mm, base cordate to sagittate or truncate, margins ± crenulate, surfaces: abaxial tomentulose, adaxial glabrous, minutely beaded along veinlets.

Peduncles

glabrous;

pedicels straight, 10–25 mm.

tomentulose.

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.

nocturnal;

sepals oblong-elliptic, 16–18 mm, coriaceous, sericeous;

corolla white, throat lavender to purple inside, salverform, 50–80 mm.

= 30.

Ipomoea cairica

Ipomoea macrorhiza

Phenology

Flowering Mar–Oct.

Flowering Jun–Jul.

Habitat

Abandoned plantings, disturbed sites.

Beaches, clearings, dunes.

Elevation

-20–200 m. (-100–700 ft.)

0–40 m. (0–100 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]

AL; FL; GA; MS; NC; SC

[BONAP county map]

Discussion

Ipomoea macrorhiza has been confused with the Mexican and Central American I. jalapa (Linnaeus) Pursh; I. macrorhiza differs by having nocturnal, moth-pollinated flowers with white corollas versus matinal, bee-pollinated flowers with lavender corollas.

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

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. 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. 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)

Michaux: Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 141. (1803)

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).

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Flora of North America species comparison

Ipomoea cairica

Ipomoea macrorhiza

Ipomoea cairica

Ipomoea macrorhiza