Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Ipomoea indica

Ipomoea cordatotriloba

blue morningglory, oceanblue morning-glory

cotton morningglory, tie-vine
Habit Perennials. Perennials.
Stems

usually twining, sometimes trailing.

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 cordate-ovate, lance-ovate, ovate, or 3–5(–7)-lobed, 10–90 × 10–90 mm, base cordate, lobes usually rounded, sometimes pointed, surfaces usually hirsute, pilose, or tomentose, rarely glabrous.
Peduncles

glabrate or sparsely hairy, hairs antrorse to ± appressed.

glabrous or hairy, hairs appressed.
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 lanceolate to ovate, 8–14 mm, chartaceous or coriaceous, outers lance-ovate to lanceolate, narrowed distal portion curved, glabrous or hairy, inners ovate, margins ciliate or not, abaxial surface glabrous or hairy;

corolla lavender, tube darker, funnelform, 20–38 mm.
2n

= 30.

Ipomoea indica

Ipomoea cordatotriloba
Phenology Flowering year-round.
Habitat Roadsides, thickets.
Elevation 0–1600 m. (0–5200 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
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]
from USDA
United States; Mexico; South America
[WildflowerSearch map]
[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.)

Varieties 3 (2 in the flora).

Variety australis (O’Donnell) D. F. Austin is known from Argentina.

Varieties cordatotriloba and torreyana appear to differ by minor, trivial traits; nevertheless, they have distinctive aspects and, historically, distinct ranges and habitats. Both have been dispersed by humans and may appear sporadically in places outside their historical ranges.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Leaf blade surfaces usually hirsute, pilose, or tomentose, rarely glabrous; sepals hispid-pilose and/or ciliate.
var. cordatotriloba
1. Leaf blade surfaces glabrous; sepals glabrous.
var. torreyana
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. aquatica, I. asarifolia, I. barbatisepala, I. batatas, I. cairica, I. capillacea, I. cardiophylla, I. carnea, I. coccinea, 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
Subordinate taxa
I. cordatotriloba var. cordatotriloba, I. cordatotriloba var. torreyana
Synonyms Convolvulus indicus, I. mutabilis, Pharbitis cathartica
Name authority (Burman) Merrill: Interpr. Herb. Amboin., 445. (1917) Dennstedt: Nomencl. Bot. 1: 246. (1810)
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).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers