FNA: Ipomoea cairica vs. Ipomoea microdactyla

	Ipomoea cairica	Ipomoea microdactyla
	cairo morning glory, mile-a-minute vine	calcareous morning-glory
Habit	Perennials.	Perennials, root relatively large, tuberlike.
Stems	usually twining, sometimes trailing.	trailing, twining, sometimes ± fleshy.
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 elliptic or lanceolate, 30–100 × 10–40 mm overall, base cordate to truncate, surfaces glabrous, or ± orbiculate, (3–)5–7-lobed, incised nearly to petiole tip, lobes narrowly elliptic, linear, or oblong, 20–40 × 3–10 mm.
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.	diurnal; sepals oblong, orbiculate, or ovate, 6–7 mm, coriaceous, margins sometimes scarious, apex obtuse, sometimes mucronulate; corolla red, salverform, (25–)40–50 mm, limb 25–30 mm diam., weakly 5-lobed or notably 5-lobed in age.
2n	= 30.

	Ipomoea cairica	Ipomoea microdactyla
Phenology	Flowering Mar–Oct.	Flowering year-round.
Habitat	Abandoned plantings, disturbed sites.	Coppices, oölitic sites, open fields, pinelands.
Elevation	-20–200 m. (-100–700 ft.)	0–20 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]	FL; West Indies (Bahamas, Cuba) [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. 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. 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	Exogonium microdactylum
Name authority	(Linnaeus) Sweet: Hort. Brit., 287. (1826)	Grisebach: Cat. Pl. Cub., 204. (1866)
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 microdactyla

cairo morning glory, mile-a-minute vine

calcareous morning-glory

Habit

Perennials.

Perennials, root relatively large, tuberlike.

Stems

usually twining, sometimes trailing.

trailing, twining, sometimes ± fleshy.

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 elliptic or lanceolate, 30–100 × 10–40 mm overall, base cordate to truncate, surfaces glabrous, or ± orbiculate, (3–)5–7-lobed, incised nearly to petiole tip, lobes narrowly elliptic, linear, or oblong, 20–40 × 3–10 mm.

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.

diurnal;

sepals oblong, orbiculate, or ovate, 6–7 mm, coriaceous, margins sometimes scarious, apex obtuse, sometimes mucronulate;

corolla red, salverform, (25–)40–50 mm, limb 25–30 mm diam., weakly 5-lobed or notably 5-lobed in age.

= 30.

Ipomoea cairica

Ipomoea microdactyla

Phenology

Flowering Mar–Oct.

Flowering year-round.

Habitat

Abandoned plantings, disturbed sites.

Coppices, oölitic sites, open fields, pinelands.

Elevation

-20–200 m. (-100–700 ft.)

0–20 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]

FL; West Indies (Bahamas, Cuba)

[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. 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. 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

Exogonium microdactylum

Name authority

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

Grisebach: Cat. Pl. Cub., 204. (1866)

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 microdactyla

Ipomoea cairica

Ipomoea microdactyla