FNA: Ipomoea indica vs. Ipomoea macrorhiza

	Ipomoea indica	Ipomoea macrorhiza
	blue morningglory, oceanblue morning-glory	large-root morning glory
Habit	Perennials.	Perennials, root relatively large, tuberlike.
Stems	usually twining, sometimes trailing.	trailing or 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 ovate, triangular-ovate, or 3-lobed, 50–150 × 50–150 mm, base cordate to sagittate or truncate, margins ± crenulate, surfaces: abaxial tomentulose, adaxial glabrous, minutely beaded along veinlets.
Peduncles	glabrate or sparsely hairy, hairs antrorse to ± appressed.	tomentulose.
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.	nocturnal; sepals oblong-elliptic, 16–18 mm, coriaceous, sericeous; corolla white, throat lavender to purple inside, salverform, 50–80 mm.
2n	= 30.

	Ipomoea indica	Ipomoea macrorhiza
Phenology	Flowering year-round.	Flowering Jun–Jul.
Habitat	Roadsides, thickets.	Beaches, clearings, dunes.
Elevation	0–1600 m. (0–5200 ft.)	0–40 m. (0–100 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]	AL; FL; GA; MS; NC; SC [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.)	Ipomoea macrorhiza has been confused with the Mexican and Central American I. jalapa (Linnaeus) Pursh; I. macrorhiza differs by having nocturnal, moth-pollinated flowers with white corollas versus matinal, bee-pollinated flowers with lavender corollas. (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. 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. 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)	Michaux: Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 141. (1803)
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	WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Ipomoea macrorhiza

blue morningglory, oceanblue morning-glory

large-root morning glory

Habit

Perennials.

Perennials, root relatively large, tuberlike.

Stems

usually twining, sometimes trailing.

trailing or 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 ovate, triangular-ovate, or 3-lobed, 50–150 × 50–150 mm, base cordate to sagittate or truncate, margins ± crenulate, surfaces: abaxial tomentulose, adaxial glabrous, minutely beaded along veinlets.

Peduncles

glabrate or sparsely hairy, hairs antrorse to ± appressed.

tomentulose.

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.

nocturnal;

sepals oblong-elliptic, 16–18 mm, coriaceous, sericeous;

corolla white, throat lavender to purple inside, salverform, 50–80 mm.

= 30.

Ipomoea indica

Ipomoea macrorhiza

Phenology

Flowering year-round.

Flowering Jun–Jul.

Habitat

Roadsides, thickets.

Beaches, clearings, dunes.

Elevation

0–1600 m. (0–5200 ft.)

0–40 m. (0–100 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]

AL; FL; GA; MS; NC; SC

[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.)

Ipomoea macrorhiza has been confused with the Mexican and Central American I. jalapa (Linnaeus) Pursh; I. macrorhiza differs by having nocturnal, moth-pollinated flowers with white corollas versus matinal, bee-pollinated flowers with lavender corollas.

(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. 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. 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)

Michaux: Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 141. (1803)

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 macrorhiza

Ipomoea indica

Ipomoea macrorhiza