FNA: Ipomoea muricata vs. Ipomoea alba

	Ipomoea muricata	Ipomoea alba
	lilac-bell, purple moonflower	moon flower, tropical white morning-glory
Habit	Annuals.	Perennials.
Stems	trailing or twining, ± warty or smooth.	twining, usually prickly, sometimes rooting at nodes.
Leaf	blades usually orbiculate to ovate, sometimes cordate or 3–5-lobed, 70–180 × 70–160 mm, base cordate, surfaces glabrous.	blades broadly ovate to triangular or 3–5-lobed, 50–150 × 50–150 mm, base cordate, surfaces usually glabrous, rarely hairy.
Peduncles	glabrous.	glabrous.
Flowers	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.	nocturnal; sepals ovate, 7–15 mm, ± coriaceous, apex acute, outers each with midrib extending as ± corniform appendage; corolla white, throat green-banded inside, salverform, 70–150 mm.
Fruits	18–20 mm.	20–30 mm.
2n	= 30.	= 30.

	Ipomoea muricata	Ipomoea alba
Phenology	Flowering Nov.	Flowering Sep–May.
Habitat	Disturbed sites.	Forest margins, swamps, moist sites.
Elevation	0–80 m. (0–300 ft.)	0–100 m. (0–300 ft.)
Distribution	AL; AR; FL; GA; LA; MS; TX; Mexico [Introduced in North America; introduced also in South America] [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	FL; LA; SC; TX; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Asia] [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Discussion	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. 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	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. 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 muricatus	Calonyction aculeatum, Convolvulus aculeatus
Name authority	(Linnaeus) Jacquin: Pl. Hort. Schoenbr. 3: 40. (1798)	Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 161. (1753)
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

Ipomoea alba

lilac-bell, purple moonflower

moon flower, tropical white morning-glory

Habit

Annuals.

Perennials.

Stems

trailing or twining, ± warty or smooth.

twining, usually prickly, sometimes rooting at nodes.

Leaf

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

blades broadly ovate to triangular or 3–5-lobed, 50–150 × 50–150 mm, base cordate, surfaces usually glabrous, rarely hairy.

Peduncles

glabrous.

Flowers

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.

nocturnal;

sepals ovate, 7–15 mm, ± coriaceous, apex acute, outers each with midrib extending as ± corniform appendage;

corolla white, throat green-banded inside, salverform, 70–150 mm.

Fruits

18–20 mm.

20–30 mm.

= 30.

Ipomoea muricata

Ipomoea alba

Phenology

Flowering Nov.

Flowering Sep–May.

Habitat

Disturbed sites.

Forest margins, swamps, moist sites.

Elevation

0–80 m. (0–300 ft.)

0–100 m. (0–300 ft.)

Distribution

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

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

FL; LA; SC; TX; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Asia]

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

Discussion

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. 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

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. 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 muricatus

Calonyction aculeatum, Convolvulus aculeatus

Name authority

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

Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 161. (1753)

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 muricata

Ipomoea alba

Ipomoea muricata

Ipomoea alba