FNA: Ipomoea imperati vs. Ipomoea cairica

	Ipomoea imperati	Ipomoea cairica
	beach morning-glory	cairo morning glory, mile-a-minute vine
Habit	Perennials.	Perennials.
Stems	repent, rooting at nodes and underground.	usually twining, sometimes trailing.
Leaf	blades lanceolate, linear, oblong, ovate, or 3–5-lobed, 15–80 × 12–60 mm, base cordate to truncate, surfaces glabrous.	blades orbiculate to ovate, 30–100 × 30–100 mm overall, palmatisect, lobes 5 (proximal 2 sometimes 2-lobed), lance-elliptic, lanceolate, or lance-ovate, (5–)10–25(–70) × (3–)8–15(–30) mm, apex acute to obtuse, surfaces glabrous.
Peduncles	glabrous.	glabrous; pedicels straight, 10–25 mm.
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 oblong to ovate, 4–6.5(–9) mm, outers slightly shorter than inners, chartaceous, margins scarious, apex obtuse to acute; corolla lavender-blue or white, throat purplish-red, funnelform, 45–60 mm.
2n	= 30.	= 30.

	Ipomoea imperati	Ipomoea cairica
Phenology	Flowering year-round.	Flowering Mar–Oct.
Habitat	Beaches, dunes.	Abandoned plantings, disturbed sites.
Elevation	0–10 m. (0–0 ft.)	-20–200 m. (-100–700 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]	AL; CA; FL; LA; Africa [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Mexico (Oaxaca), West Indies, South America] [WildflowerSearch map] [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. aquatica, I. asarifolia, I. barbatisepala, I. batatas, 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	Convolvulus cairicus
Name authority	(Vahl) Grisebach: Cat. Pl. Cub., 203. (1866)	(Linnaeus) Sweet: Hort. Brit., 287. (1826)
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	Local floras: CA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, 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 cairica

beach morning-glory

cairo morning glory, mile-a-minute vine

Habit

Perennials.

Stems

repent, rooting at nodes and underground.

usually twining, sometimes trailing.

Leaf

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

blades orbiculate to ovate, 30–100 × 30–100 mm overall, palmatisect, lobes 5 (proximal 2 sometimes 2-lobed), lance-elliptic, lanceolate, or lance-ovate, (5–)10–25(–70) × (3–)8–15(–30) mm, apex acute to obtuse, surfaces glabrous.

Peduncles

glabrous.

glabrous;

pedicels straight, 10–25 mm.

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 oblong to ovate, 4–6.5(–9) mm, outers slightly shorter than inners, chartaceous, margins scarious, apex obtuse to acute;

corolla lavender-blue or white, throat purplish-red, funnelform, 45–60 mm.

= 30.

Ipomoea imperati

Ipomoea cairica

Phenology

Flowering year-round.

Flowering Mar–Oct.

Habitat

Beaches, dunes.

Abandoned plantings, disturbed sites.

Elevation

0–10 m. (0–0 ft.)

-20–200 m. (-100–700 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]

AL; CA; FL; LA; Africa [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Mexico (Oaxaca), West Indies, South America]

[WildflowerSearch map]

[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. aquatica, I. asarifolia, I. barbatisepala, I. batatas, 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

Convolvulus cairicus

Name authority

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

(Linnaeus) Sweet: Hort. Brit., 287. (1826)

Web links

Local floras: CA
Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, 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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Flora of North America species comparison

Ipomoea imperati

Ipomoea cairica

Ipomoea imperati

Ipomoea cairica