FNA: Ipomoea capillacea vs. Ipomoea triloba

	Ipomoea capillacea	Ipomoea triloba
	purple morning-glory	little bell morning glory, littlebell
Habit	Perennials.	Annuals.
Stems	usually ascending to erect, sometimes trailing.	usually twining, sometimes trailing.
Leaf	blades palmatisect, lobes 5–9, filiform to linear, (3–)5–15(–25) × 0.2–1 mm.	blades orbiculate, broadly ovate, or 3–7-lobed, 20–80 × 20–70 mm overall, base cordate, basal lobes angular, lobed, or rounded, surfaces glabrous or sparsely pilose.
Peduncles	glabrous.	glabrous, distally verruculose.
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.	sepals narrowly elliptic-oblong, lanceolate, or oblong, 6–7 mm, chartaceous or coriaceous, margins ciliate, apex acute or obtuse, mucronulate-caudate, surface glabrous or abaxial sparsely hairy; corolla lavender, funnelform, 10–20 mm.
2n		= 30, 60.

	Ipomoea capillacea	Ipomoea triloba
Phenology	Flowering Jul–Sep.	Flowering year-round.
Habitat	Oak woodlands, plains, ponderosa pine zones.	Disturbed sites.
Elevation	1500–2500 m. (4900–8200 ft.)	-40–100 m. (-100–300 ft.)
Distribution	AZ; NM; TX; Mexico; Central America; South America [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	CA; FL; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Asia] [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.)	Ipomoea triloba seeds are sometimes a contaminant in rice and other seeds. Ipomoea trifida (Kunth) G. Don (Convolvulus trifidus Kunth) was incorrectly ascribed to Florida by J. K. Small (1933) on the basis of an unusual and incorrectly identified specimen of I. triloba. (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. 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. tricolor, I. violacea, I. wrightii, I. ×leucantha
Synonyms	Convolvulus capillaceus, 3(qto.): 97.
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 floras: CA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos 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 triloba

purple morning-glory

little bell morning glory, littlebell

Habit

Perennials.

Annuals.

Stems

usually ascending to erect, sometimes trailing.

usually twining, sometimes trailing.

Leaf

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

blades orbiculate, broadly ovate, or 3–7-lobed, 20–80 × 20–70 mm overall, base cordate, basal lobes angular, lobed, or rounded, surfaces glabrous or sparsely pilose.

Peduncles

glabrous.

glabrous, distally verruculose.

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.

sepals narrowly elliptic-oblong, lanceolate, or oblong, 6–7 mm, chartaceous or coriaceous, margins ciliate, apex acute or obtuse, mucronulate-caudate, surface glabrous or abaxial sparsely hairy;

corolla lavender, funnelform, 10–20 mm.

= 30, 60.

Ipomoea capillacea

Ipomoea triloba

Phenology

Flowering Jul–Sep.

Flowering year-round.

Habitat

Oak woodlands, plains, ponderosa pine zones.

Disturbed sites.

Elevation

1500–2500 m. (4900–8200 ft.)

-40–100 m. (-100–300 ft.)

Distribution

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

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

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

[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.)

Ipomoea triloba seeds are sometimes a contaminant in rice and other seeds.

Ipomoea trifida (Kunth) G. Don (Convolvulus trifidus Kunth) was incorrectly ascribed to Florida by J. K. Small (1933) on the basis of an unusual and incorrectly identified specimen of I. triloba.

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

Synonyms

Convolvulus capillaceus, 3(qto.): 97.

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

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:

Flora of North America species comparison

Ipomoea capillacea

Ipomoea triloba

Ipomoea capillacea

Ipomoea triloba