FNA: Ipomoea costellata vs. Ipomoea batatas

	Ipomoea costellata	Ipomoea batatas
	crest-rib morning glory	camote, sweet potato, wild sweet potato
Habit	Annuals.	Perennials, root relatively large, tuberlike.
Stems	usually trailing, or twining only near tips, rarely erect.	± trailing, rarely twining.
Leaf	blades palmatisect, lobes 5–9, lance-linear, linear, oblanceolate, or spatulate, 7–28 × 0.5–3(–8) mm, surfaces glabrous or sparsely hispidulous.	blades cordate, broadly ovate, or 5–7-lobed, 50–100+ × 40–100 mm overall, base cordate, surfaces glabrous or hairy.
Peduncles	usually glabrous, rarely sparsely hispidulous.	glabrous or hairy, hairs appressed.
Flowers	sepals lance-oblong to lanceolate, outers 3–5 × 1–2 mm, inners 4–6 × 2–3 mm, herbaceous, apex acute, abaxial surface usually ± carinate and glabrous, sometimes hispidulous on midrib; corolla pale lavender to pink, funnelform, 10–12 mm.	sepals lanceolate to oblong, 8–15 mm, chartaceous; corolla usually lavender, pink, or purplish, sometimes white, throat usually darker inside, funnelform, (30–)40–70 mm.
Seeds		glabrous.
2n		= 60, 84, 90.

	Ipomoea costellata	Ipomoea batatas
Phenology	Flowering Jul–Nov.	Flowering year-round.
Habitat	Chaparral, oak woodlands, ponderosa pine zone, rocky sites.	Abandoned plantings, thickets.
Elevation	100–2200 m. (300–7200 ft.)	0–200+ m. (0–700+ ft.)
Distribution	AZ; NM; TX; Mexico [Introduced in South America] [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	FL; KS; LA; MS; NC; NY; PA; SC; TX; UT; VA; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Asia, Africa] [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Discussion		Reports of Ipomoea batatas from northern parts of the flora area appear to be based on ephemerals. (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. capillacea, I. cardiophylla, I. carnea, I. coccinea, I. cordatotriloba, 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. 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	I. costellata var. edwardsensis	Convolvulus batatas
Name authority	Torrey in W. H. Emory: Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 149. (1859)	(Linnaeus) Lamarck in J. Lamarck and J. Poiret: Tabl. Encycl. 1: 465. (1793)
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: KS Wildflowers, 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 costellata

Ipomoea batatas

crest-rib morning glory

camote, sweet potato, wild sweet potato

Habit

Annuals.

Perennials, root relatively large, tuberlike.

Stems

usually trailing, or twining only near tips, rarely erect.

± trailing, rarely twining.

Leaf

blades palmatisect, lobes 5–9, lance-linear, linear, oblanceolate, or spatulate, 7–28 × 0.5–3(–8) mm, surfaces glabrous or sparsely hispidulous.

blades cordate, broadly ovate, or 5–7-lobed, 50–100+ × 40–100 mm overall, base cordate, surfaces glabrous or hairy.

Peduncles

usually glabrous, rarely sparsely hispidulous.

glabrous or hairy, hairs appressed.

Flowers

sepals lance-oblong to lanceolate, outers 3–5 × 1–2 mm, inners 4–6 × 2–3 mm, herbaceous, apex acute, abaxial surface usually ± carinate and glabrous, sometimes hispidulous on midrib;

corolla pale lavender to pink, funnelform, 10–12 mm.

sepals lanceolate to oblong, 8–15 mm, chartaceous;

corolla usually lavender, pink, or purplish, sometimes white, throat usually darker inside, funnelform, (30–)40–70 mm.

Seeds

glabrous.

= 60, 84, 90.

Ipomoea costellata

Ipomoea batatas

Phenology

Flowering Jul–Nov.

Flowering year-round.

Habitat

Chaparral, oak woodlands, ponderosa pine zone, rocky sites.

Abandoned plantings, thickets.

Elevation

100–2200 m. (300–7200 ft.)

0–200+ m. (0–700+ ft.)

Distribution

AZ; NM; TX; Mexico [Introduced in South America]

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

FL; KS; LA; MS; NC; NY; PA; SC; TX; UT; VA; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Asia, Africa]

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

Discussion

Reports of Ipomoea batatas from northern parts of the flora area appear to be based on ephemerals.

(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. capillacea, I. cardiophylla, I. carnea, I. coccinea, I. cordatotriloba, 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. 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

I. costellata var. edwardsensis

Convolvulus batatas

Name authority

Torrey in W. H. Emory: Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 149. (1859)

(Linnaeus) Lamarck in J. Lamarck and J. Poiret: Tabl. Encycl. 1: 465. (1793)

Web links

Local Web sites: KS Wildflowers, 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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Ipomoea costellata

Ipomoea batatas

Ipomoea costellata

Ipomoea batatas