FNA: Ipomoea imperati vs. Ipomoea muricata

	Ipomoea imperati	Ipomoea muricata
	beach morning-glory	lilac-bell, purple moonflower
Habit	Perennials.	Annuals.
Stems	repent, rooting at nodes and underground.	trailing or twining, ± warty or smooth.
Leaf	blades lanceolate, linear, oblong, ovate, or 3–5-lobed, 15–80 × 12–60 mm, base cordate to truncate, surfaces glabrous.	blades usually orbiculate to ovate, sometimes cordate or 3–5-lobed, 70–180 × 70–160 mm, base cordate, surfaces glabrous.
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.	nocturnal; sepals oblong to ovate, 6–8 mm, chartaceous to coriaceous, apex acute, outers each with ± corniform appendage 4–6 mm; corolla white, turning lavender in morning, salverform, limb sometimes ± campanulate, 30–75 mm.
Fruits		18–20 mm.
2n	= 30.	= 30.

	Ipomoea imperati	Ipomoea muricata
Phenology	Flowering year-round.	Flowering Nov.
Habitat	Beaches, dunes.	Disturbed sites.
Elevation	0–10 m. (0–0 ft.)	0–80 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]	AL; AR; FL; GA; LA; MS; TX; Mexico [Introduced in North America; introduced also in 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.)	Ipomoea muricata has been spread as a contaminant in soybean seeds (C. R. Gunn 1970). The name Ipomoea turbinata Lagasca is illegitimate and has been misapplied to plants of I. muricata (G. W. Staples et al. 2006). (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. 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. 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 muricatus
Name authority	(Vahl) Grisebach: Cat. Pl. Cub., 203. (1866)	(Linnaeus) Jacquin: Pl. Hort. Schoenbr. 3: 40. (1798)
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 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

Ipomoea muricata

beach morning-glory

lilac-bell, purple moonflower

Habit

Perennials.

Annuals.

Stems

repent, rooting at nodes and underground.

trailing or twining, ± warty or smooth.

Leaf

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

blades usually orbiculate to ovate, sometimes cordate or 3–5-lobed, 70–180 × 70–160 mm, base cordate, surfaces glabrous.

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.

nocturnal;

sepals oblong to ovate, 6–8 mm, chartaceous to coriaceous, apex acute, outers each with ± corniform appendage 4–6 mm;

corolla white, turning lavender in morning, salverform, limb sometimes ± campanulate, 30–75 mm.

Fruits

18–20 mm.

= 30.

Ipomoea muricata

Phenology

Flowering year-round.

Flowering Nov.

Habitat

Beaches, dunes.

Disturbed sites.

Elevation

0–10 m. (0–0 ft.)

0–80 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]

AL; AR; FL; GA; LA; MS; TX; Mexico [Introduced in North America; introduced also in 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.)

Ipomoea muricata has been spread as a contaminant in soybean seeds (C. R. Gunn 1970).

The name Ipomoea turbinata Lagasca is illegitimate and has been misapplied to plants of I. muricata (G. W. Staples et al. 2006).

(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. 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. 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 muricatus

Name authority

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

(Linnaeus) Jacquin: Pl. Hort. Schoenbr. 3: 40. (1798)

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 imperati

Ipomoea muricata

Ipomoea imperati

Ipomoea muricata