FNA: Ipomoea capillacea vs. Ipomoea alba

	Ipomoea capillacea	Ipomoea alba
	purple morning-glory	moon flower, tropical white morning-glory
Habit	Perennials.	Perennials.
Stems	usually ascending to erect, sometimes trailing.	twining, usually prickly, sometimes rooting at nodes.
Leaf	blades palmatisect, lobes 5–9, filiform to linear, (3–)5–15(–25) × 0.2–1 mm.	blades broadly ovate to triangular or 3–5-lobed, 50–150 × 50–150 mm, base cordate, surfaces usually glabrous, rarely hairy.
Peduncles	glabrous.	glabrous.
Flowers	sepals elliptic, oblong, or ovate, 5–6 × 2–3 mm, chartaceous or coriaceous, abaxial surface muricate or smooth; corolla lavender to red-purple, funnelform, 30–40 mm, limb 20–25 mm diam.	nocturnal; sepals ovate, 7–15 mm, ± coriaceous, apex acute, outers each with midrib extending as ± corniform appendage; corolla white, throat green-banded inside, salverform, 70–150 mm.
Fruits		20–30 mm.
2n		= 30.

	Ipomoea capillacea	Ipomoea alba
Phenology	Flowering Jul–Sep.	Flowering Sep–May.
Habitat	Oak woodlands, plains, ponderosa pine zones.	Forest margins, swamps, moist sites.
Elevation	1500–2500 m. (4900–8200 ft.)	0–100 m. (0–300 ft.)
Distribution	AZ; NM; TX; Mexico; Central America; South America [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	FL; LA; SC; TX; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Asia] [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Discussion	The report of Ipomoea capillacea from Alabama (J. T. Kartesz and C. A. Meacham 1999) was probably based on a specimen of I. muricata. (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. cairica, 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. 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. tricolor, I. triloba, I. violacea, I. wrightii, I. ×leucantha
Synonyms	Convolvulus capillaceus, 3(qto.): 97.	Calonyction aculeatum, Convolvulus aculeatus
Name authority	(Kunth) G. Don: Gen. Hist. 4: 267. (1837)	Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 161. (1753)
Web links	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 WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Ipomoea capillacea

Ipomoea alba

purple morning-glory

moon flower, tropical white morning-glory

Habit

Perennials.

Stems

usually ascending to erect, sometimes trailing.

twining, usually prickly, sometimes rooting at nodes.

Leaf

blades palmatisect, lobes 5–9, filiform to linear, (3–)5–15(–25) × 0.2–1 mm.

blades broadly ovate to triangular or 3–5-lobed, 50–150 × 50–150 mm, base cordate, surfaces usually glabrous, rarely hairy.

Peduncles

glabrous.

Flowers

sepals elliptic, oblong, or ovate, 5–6 × 2–3 mm, chartaceous or coriaceous, abaxial surface muricate or smooth;

corolla lavender to red-purple, funnelform, 30–40 mm, limb 20–25 mm diam.

nocturnal;

sepals ovate, 7–15 mm, ± coriaceous, apex acute, outers each with midrib extending as ± corniform appendage;

corolla white, throat green-banded inside, salverform, 70–150 mm.

Fruits

20–30 mm.

= 30.

Ipomoea capillacea

Ipomoea alba

Phenology

Flowering Jul–Sep.

Flowering Sep–May.

Habitat

Oak woodlands, plains, ponderosa pine zones.

Forest margins, swamps, moist sites.

Elevation

1500–2500 m. (4900–8200 ft.)

0–100 m. (0–300 ft.)

Distribution

AZ; NM; TX; Mexico; Central America; South America

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

FL; LA; SC; TX; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Asia]

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

Discussion

The report of Ipomoea capillacea from Alabama (J. T. Kartesz and C. A. Meacham 1999) was probably based on a specimen of I. muricata.

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

Synonyms

Convolvulus capillaceus, 3(qto.): 97.

Calonyction aculeatum, Convolvulus aculeatus

Name authority

(Kunth) G. Don: Gen. Hist. 4: 267. (1837)

Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 161. (1753)

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).

Choose a data source: Flora of North America

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Flora of North America species comparison

Ipomoea capillacea

Ipomoea alba

Ipomoea capillacea

Ipomoea alba