FNA: Ipomoea cairica vs. Ipomoea tricolor

	Ipomoea cairica	Ipomoea tricolor
	cairo morning glory, mile-a-minute vine	granny morning-glory, grannyvine, heavenly blue morning glory
Habit	Perennials.	Annuals.
Stems	usually twining, sometimes trailing.	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, 60–100 × 25–130 mm, base cordate, surfaces glabrous.
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 lance-ovate, triangular, or oblong-triangular, (4–)6–7 mm, coriaceous, margins scarious, apex acute, abaxial surface muriculate, glabrous; corolla usually blue to deep blue, sometimes white, tube white outside, pale yellow inside, funnelform, 35–60 mm, limb 50–90 mm diam.
2n	= 30.

	Ipomoea cairica	Ipomoea tricolor
Phenology	Flowering Mar–Oct.	Flowering Oct–Dec.
Habitat	Abandoned plantings, disturbed sites.	Abandoned plantings, thickets.
Elevation	-20–200 m. (-100–700 ft.)	20–1900 m. (100–6200 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; AR; AZ; FL; GA; KY; LA; MO; MS; NC; PA; SC; TX; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in North America] [BONAP county map]
Discussion		Ipomoea tricolor is native in Mexico and has long been cultivated in North America. The name Ipomoea violacea has been misapplied to plants of I. tricolor. (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. 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. triloba, I. violacea, I. wrightii, I. ×leucantha
Synonyms	Convolvulus cairicus
Name authority	(Linnaeus) Sweet: Hort. Brit., 287. (1826)	Cavanilles: Icon. 3: 5, plate 208. (1795)
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: LA Plants, MO Plants WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Ipomoea tricolor

cairo morning glory, mile-a-minute vine

granny morning-glory, grannyvine, heavenly blue morning glory

Habit

Perennials.

Annuals.

Stems

usually twining, sometimes trailing.

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, 60–100 × 25–130 mm, base cordate, surfaces glabrous.

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 lance-ovate, triangular, or oblong-triangular, (4–)6–7 mm, coriaceous, margins scarious, apex acute, abaxial surface muriculate, glabrous;

corolla usually blue to deep blue, sometimes white, tube white outside, pale yellow inside, funnelform, 35–60 mm, limb 50–90 mm diam.

= 30.

Ipomoea cairica

Ipomoea tricolor

Phenology

Flowering Mar–Oct.

Flowering Oct–Dec.

Habitat

Abandoned plantings, disturbed sites.

Abandoned plantings, thickets.

Elevation

-20–200 m. (-100–700 ft.)

20–1900 m. (100–6200 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; AR; AZ; FL; GA; KY; LA; MO; MS; NC; PA; SC; TX; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in North America]

[BONAP county map]

Discussion

Ipomoea tricolor is native in Mexico and has long been cultivated in North America.

The name Ipomoea violacea has been misapplied to plants of I. tricolor.

(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. 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. triloba, I. violacea, I. wrightii, I. ×leucantha

Synonyms

Convolvulus cairicus

Name authority

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

Cavanilles: Icon. 3: 5, plate 208. (1795)

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 tricolor

Ipomoea cairica

Ipomoea tricolor