FNA: Ipomoea imperati vs. Ipomoea aquatica

	Ipomoea imperati	Ipomoea aquatica
	beach morning-glory	swamp morning-glory, water-spinach
Habit	Perennials.	Perennials.
Stems	repent, rooting at nodes and underground.	usually repent, rooting at nodes, sometimes floating, rarely twining.
Leaf	blades lanceolate, linear, oblong, ovate, or 3–5-lobed, 15–80 × 12–60 mm, base cordate to truncate, surfaces glabrous.	blades ± hastate to lanceolate, 40–120 × 20–60 mm, base ± cordate or hastate to truncate, terminal lobe broadly to narrowly triangular or lanceolate, surfaces glabrescent.
Peduncles	glabrous.	glabrous.
Flowers	sepals lance-oblong, 10–15 mm, outers shorter than inners, ± coriaceous, apex acute to obtuse, abaxial surface glabrous; corolla white, throat usually yellow, sometimes purplish inside, funnelform, 25–50 mm.	sepals elliptic-ovate to oblong-ovate, 6–8 mm, chartaceous or coriaceous, apex acute or obtuse, mucronulate; corolla usually purple, rarely white, funnelform, 40–50 mm.
2n	= 30.	= 30.

	Ipomoea imperati	Ipomoea aquatica
Phenology	Flowering year-round.	Flowering year-round.
Habitat	Beaches, dunes.	Abandoned plantings, wet sites.
Elevation	0–10 m. (0–0 ft.)	0–100 m. (0–300 ft.)
Distribution	AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX; HI; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia] [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	CA; FL; Mexico; Central America; South America; Asia; Africa; Australia [Introduced in North America] [BONAP county map]
Discussion	Ipomoea imperati was collected once in Pennsylvania (on ballast in 1865). The names I. littoralis (Linnaeus) Boissier 1875, not Blume 1826, and I. stolonifera (Cirillo) J. F. Gmelin are illegitimate; both have been misapplied to plants of I. imperati. (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. costellata, I. cristulata, I. dumetorum, I. hederacea, I. hederifolia, 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. 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 imperati
Name authority	(Vahl) Grisebach: Cat. Pl. Cub., 203. (1866)	Forsskål: Fl. Aegypt.-Arab., 44. (1775)
Web links	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	WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Ipomoea aquatica

beach morning-glory

swamp morning-glory, water-spinach

Habit

Perennials.

Stems

repent, rooting at nodes and underground.

usually repent, rooting at nodes, sometimes floating, rarely twining.

Leaf

blades lanceolate, linear, oblong, ovate, or 3–5-lobed, 15–80 × 12–60 mm, base cordate to truncate, surfaces glabrous.

blades ± hastate to lanceolate, 40–120 × 20–60 mm, base ± cordate or hastate to truncate, terminal lobe broadly to narrowly triangular or lanceolate, surfaces glabrescent.

Peduncles

glabrous.

Flowers

sepals lance-oblong, 10–15 mm, outers shorter than inners, ± coriaceous, apex acute to obtuse, abaxial surface glabrous;

corolla white, throat usually yellow, sometimes purplish inside, funnelform, 25–50 mm.

sepals elliptic-ovate to oblong-ovate, 6–8 mm, chartaceous or coriaceous, apex acute or obtuse, mucronulate;

corolla usually purple, rarely white, funnelform, 40–50 mm.

= 30.

Ipomoea aquatica

Phenology

Flowering year-round.

Habitat

Beaches, dunes.

Abandoned plantings, wet sites.

Elevation

0–10 m. (0–0 ft.)

0–100 m. (0–300 ft.)

Distribution

AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX; HI; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia]

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

CA; FL; Mexico; Central America; South America; Asia; Africa; Australia [Introduced in North America]

[BONAP county map]

Discussion

Ipomoea imperati was collected once in Pennsylvania (on ballast in 1865). The names I. littoralis (Linnaeus) Boissier 1875, not Blume 1826, and I. stolonifera (Cirillo) J. F. Gmelin are illegitimate; both have been misapplied to plants of I. imperati.

(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. costellata, I. cristulata, I. dumetorum, I. hederacea, I. hederifolia, 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. 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 imperati

Name authority

(Vahl) Grisebach: Cat. Pl. Cub., 203. (1866)

Forsskål: Fl. Aegypt.-Arab., 44. (1775)

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).

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Flora of North America species comparison

Ipomoea imperati

Ipomoea aquatica

Ipomoea imperati

Ipomoea aquatica