FNA: Ipomoea muricata vs. Ipomoea thurberi

	Ipomoea muricata	Ipomoea thurberi
	lilac-bell, purple moonflower	Thurber's morning-glory
Habit	Annuals.	Perennials, root elongate, tuberous.
Stems	trailing or twining, ± warty or smooth.	trailing or twining.
Leaf	blades usually orbiculate to ovate, sometimes cordate or 3–5-lobed, 70–180 × 70–160 mm, base cordate, surfaces glabrous.	blades ± sagittate, 10–50 × 20–65 mm overall, base sagittate, or blades palmatisect, lobes 5–7, lanceolate, linear, or oblong, surfaces sparsely strigose.
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 lanceolate to lance-linear, 12–15 × 3–4 mm, ± herbaceous, base obscurely warty or not, apex acuminate, setaceous-caudate; corolla white, tube green, limb red, rose, drying purple, funnelform-salverform, 50–80 mm, limb 50–65 mm diam.
Fruits	18–20 mm.
2n	= 30.

	Ipomoea muricata	Ipomoea thurberi
Phenology	Flowering Nov.	Flowering Aug–Sep.
Habitat	Disturbed sites.	Oak woodlands, rocky sites.
Elevation	0–80 m. (0–300 ft.)	1100–1600 m. (3600–5200 ft.)
Distribution	AL; AR; FL; GA; LA; MS; TX; Mexico [Introduced in North America; introduced also in South America] [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	AZ; Mexico (Chihuahua, Sonora) [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. 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. 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. tricolor, I. triloba, I. violacea, I. wrightii, I. ×leucantha
Synonyms	Convolvulus muricatus	I. gentryi
Name authority	(Linnaeus) Jacquin: Pl. Hort. Schoenbr. 3: 40. (1798)	A. Gray in A. Gray et al.: Syn. Fl. N. Amer. 2(1): 212. (1878)
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	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 thurberi

lilac-bell, purple moonflower

Thurber's morning-glory

Habit

Annuals.

Perennials, root elongate, tuberous.

Stems

trailing or twining, ± warty or smooth.

trailing or twining.

Leaf

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

blades ± sagittate, 10–50 × 20–65 mm overall, base sagittate, or blades palmatisect, lobes 5–7, lanceolate, linear, or oblong, surfaces sparsely strigose.

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 lanceolate to lance-linear, 12–15 × 3–4 mm, ± herbaceous, base obscurely warty or not, apex acuminate, setaceous-caudate;

corolla white, tube green, limb red, rose, drying purple, funnelform-salverform, 50–80 mm, limb 50–65 mm diam.

Fruits

18–20 mm.

= 30.

Ipomoea muricata

Ipomoea thurberi

Phenology

Flowering Nov.

Flowering Aug–Sep.

Habitat

Disturbed sites.

Oak woodlands, rocky sites.

Elevation

0–80 m. (0–300 ft.)

1100–1600 m. (3600–5200 ft.)

Distribution

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

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

AZ; Mexico (Chihuahua, Sonora)

[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. 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. 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. tricolor, I. triloba, I. violacea, I. wrightii, I. ×leucantha

Synonyms

Convolvulus muricatus

I. gentryi

Name authority

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

A. Gray in A. Gray et al.: Syn. Fl. N. Amer. 2(1): 212. (1878)

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).

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Flora of North America species comparison

Ipomoea muricata

Ipomoea thurberi

Ipomoea muricata

Ipomoea thurberi