FNA: Ipomoea costellata vs. Ipomoea triloba

	Ipomoea costellata	Ipomoea triloba
	crest-rib morning glory	little bell morning glory, littlebell
Habit	Annuals.	Annuals.
Stems	usually trailing, or twining only near tips, rarely erect.	usually twining, sometimes trailing.
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 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	usually glabrous, rarely sparsely hispidulous.	glabrous, distally verruculose.
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 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 costellata	Ipomoea triloba
Phenology	Flowering Jul–Nov.	Flowering year-round.
Habitat	Chaparral, oak woodlands, ponderosa pine zone, rocky sites.	Disturbed sites.
Elevation	100–2200 m. (300–7200 ft.)	-40–100 m. (-100–300 ft.)
Distribution	AZ; NM; TX; Mexico [Introduced in 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		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. 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. 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	I. costellata var. edwardsensis
Name authority	Torrey in W. H. Emory: Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 149. (1859)	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 costellata

Ipomoea triloba

crest-rib morning glory

little bell morning glory, littlebell

Habit

Annuals.

Stems

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

usually twining, sometimes trailing.

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 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

usually glabrous, rarely sparsely hispidulous.

glabrous, distally verruculose.

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 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 costellata

Ipomoea triloba

Phenology

Flowering Jul–Nov.

Flowering year-round.

Habitat

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

Disturbed sites.

Elevation

100–2200 m. (300–7200 ft.)

-40–100 m. (-100–300 ft.)

Distribution

AZ; NM; TX; Mexico [Introduced in 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

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. 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. 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

I. costellata var. edwardsensis

Name authority

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

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 costellata

Ipomoea triloba

Ipomoea costellata

Ipomoea triloba