FNA: Ipomoea indica vs. Ipomoea aquatica

	Ipomoea indica	Ipomoea aquatica
	blue morningglory, oceanblue morning-glory	swamp morning-glory, water-spinach
Habit	Perennials.	Perennials.
Stems	usually twining, sometimes trailing.	usually repent, rooting at nodes, sometimes floating, rarely twining.
Leaf	blades cordate, rounded-ovate, or 3–5(–7)-lobed, 30–140 × 30–140 mm, base cordate to sagittate, surfaces glabrous or ± pilose.	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	glabrate or sparsely hairy, hairs antrorse to ± appressed.	glabrous.
Flowers	sepals lance-ovate, 14–21 mm, herbaceous, apex ± acuminate, surfaces glabrous or abaxial sparsely hairy, hairs appressed; corolla usually blue to purple, rarely white, throat and tube white, funnelform, 50–70 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 indica	Ipomoea aquatica
Phenology	Flowering year-round.	Flowering year-round.
Habitat	Roadsides, thickets.	Abandoned plantings, wet sites.
Elevation	0–1600 m. (0–5200 ft.)	0–100 m. (0–300 ft.)
Distribution	AL; CA; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; PA; SC; TX; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in Asia] [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	CA; FL; Mexico; Central America; South America; Asia; Africa; Australia [Introduced in North America] [BONAP county map]
Discussion	In the flora area, Ipomoea indica rarely produces seeds and rarely survives winters. It is probably native in southern Florida. (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. imperati, 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 indicus, I. mutabilis, Pharbitis cathartica
Name authority	(Burman) Merrill: Interpr. Herb. Amboin., 445. (1917)	Forsskål: Fl. Aegypt.-Arab., 44. (1775)
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	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 indica

Ipomoea aquatica

blue morningglory, oceanblue morning-glory

swamp morning-glory, water-spinach

Habit

Perennials.

Stems

usually twining, sometimes trailing.

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

Leaf

blades cordate, rounded-ovate, or 3–5(–7)-lobed, 30–140 × 30–140 mm, base cordate to sagittate, surfaces glabrous or ± pilose.

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

glabrate or sparsely hairy, hairs antrorse to ± appressed.

glabrous.

Flowers

sepals lance-ovate, 14–21 mm, herbaceous, apex ± acuminate, surfaces glabrous or abaxial sparsely hairy, hairs appressed;

corolla usually blue to purple, rarely white, throat and tube white, funnelform, 50–70 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 indica

Ipomoea aquatica

Phenology

Flowering year-round.

Habitat

Roadsides, thickets.

Abandoned plantings, wet sites.

Elevation

0–1600 m. (0–5200 ft.)

0–100 m. (0–300 ft.)

Distribution

AL; CA; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; PA; SC; TX; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in Asia]

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

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

[BONAP county map]

Discussion

In the flora area, Ipomoea indica rarely produces seeds and rarely survives winters. It is probably native in southern Florida.

(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. imperati, 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 indicus, I. mutabilis, Pharbitis cathartica

Name authority

(Burman) Merrill: Interpr. Herb. Amboin., 445. (1917)

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

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 indica

Ipomoea aquatica

Ipomoea indica

Ipomoea aquatica