FNA: Ipomoea muricata vs. Ipomoea imperati

	Ipomoea muricata	Ipomoea imperati
	lilac-bell, purple moonflower	beach morning-glory
Habit	Annuals.	Perennials.
Stems	trailing or twining, ± warty or smooth.	repent, rooting at nodes and underground.
Leaf	blades usually orbiculate to ovate, sometimes cordate or 3–5-lobed, 70–180 × 70–160 mm, base cordate, surfaces glabrous.	blades lanceolate, linear, oblong, ovate, or 3–5-lobed, 15–80 × 12–60 mm, base cordate to truncate, surfaces glabrous.
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.	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.
Fruits	18–20 mm.
2n	= 30.	= 30.

	Ipomoea muricata	Ipomoea imperati
Phenology	Flowering Nov.	Flowering year-round.
Habitat	Disturbed sites.	Beaches, dunes.
Elevation	0–80 m. (0–300 ft.)	0–10 m. (0–0 ft.)
Distribution	AL; AR; FL; GA; LA; MS; TX; Mexico [Introduced in North America; introduced also in South America] [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	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]
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.)	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.)
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. 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
Synonyms	Convolvulus muricatus	Convolvulus imperati
Name authority	(Linnaeus) Jacquin: Pl. Hort. Schoenbr. 3: 40. (1798)	(Vahl) Grisebach: Cat. Pl. Cub., 203. (1866)
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 imperati

lilac-bell, purple moonflower

beach morning-glory

Habit

Annuals.

Perennials.

Stems

trailing or twining, ± warty or smooth.

repent, rooting at nodes and underground.

Leaf

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

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

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.

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.

Fruits

18–20 mm.

= 30.

Ipomoea imperati

Phenology

Flowering Nov.

Flowering year-round.

Habitat

Disturbed sites.

Beaches, dunes.

Elevation

0–80 m. (0–300 ft.)

0–10 m. (0–0 ft.)

Distribution

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

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

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]

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.)

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.)

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. 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

Synonyms

Convolvulus muricatus

Convolvulus imperati

Name authority

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

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

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 imperati

Ipomoea muricata

Ipomoea imperati