FNA: Ipomoea nil vs. Ipomoea alba

	Ipomoea nil	Ipomoea alba
	ivy morning glory, Japanese morning glory, whiteedge morning-glory	moon flower, tropical white morning-glory
Habit	Annuals.	Perennials.
Stems	twining.	twining, usually prickly, sometimes rooting at nodes.
Leaf	blades cordate, ± orbiculate, ovate, or 3-lobed, 50–150 × 20–140 mm overall, base cordate, surfaces sparsely hirsute to sericeous.	blades broadly ovate to triangular or 3–5-lobed, 50–150 × 50–150 mm, base cordate, surfaces usually glabrous, rarely hairy.
Peduncles	hairy, hairs retrorse.	glabrous.
Flowers	sepals lance-linear, 15–25(–30) mm, herbaceous, proximally narrowly ovate, densely hispid, gradually narrowed to ± straight, hispid to strigose or glabrate distal portion longer than ovate base; corolla usually blue to purplish, sometimes red or white, tube white or yellow inside, funnelform, (20–)30–60+ 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		20–30 mm.
2n	= 30.	= 30.

	Ipomoea nil	Ipomoea alba
Phenology	Flowering Jul–Dec.	Flowering Sep–May.
Habitat	Abandoned plantings, fields, thickets.	Forest margins, swamps, moist sites.
Elevation	10–2200 m. (0–7200 ft.)	0–100 m. (0–300 ft.)
Distribution	AL; KY; LA; MD; MS; NC; OK; SC; TN; TX; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Asia] [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	Reports of Ipomoea nil from California are based on misidentified material of I. hederacea. (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. muricata, 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 nil, Pharbitis hederacea, P. nil	Calonyction aculeatum, Convolvulus aculeatus
Name authority	(Linnaeus) Roth: Catal. Bot. 1: 36. (1797)	Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 161. (1753)
Web links	Local Web sites: LA Plants, MD Biodiversity 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 nil

Ipomoea alba

ivy morning glory, Japanese morning glory, whiteedge morning-glory

moon flower, tropical white morning-glory

Habit

Annuals.

Perennials.

Stems

twining.

twining, usually prickly, sometimes rooting at nodes.

Leaf

blades cordate, ± orbiculate, ovate, or 3-lobed, 50–150 × 20–140 mm overall, base cordate, surfaces sparsely hirsute to sericeous.

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

Peduncles

hairy, hairs retrorse.

glabrous.

Flowers

sepals lance-linear, 15–25(–30) mm, herbaceous, proximally narrowly ovate, densely hispid, gradually narrowed to ± straight, hispid to strigose or glabrate distal portion longer than ovate base;

corolla usually blue to purplish, sometimes red or white, tube white or yellow inside, funnelform, (20–)30–60+ 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

20–30 mm.

= 30.

Ipomoea nil

Ipomoea alba

Phenology

Flowering Jul–Dec.

Flowering Sep–May.

Habitat

Abandoned plantings, fields, thickets.

Forest margins, swamps, moist sites.

Elevation

10–2200 m. (0–7200 ft.)

0–100 m. (0–300 ft.)

Distribution

AL; KY; LA; MD; MS; NC; OK; SC; TN; TX; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Asia]

[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

Reports of Ipomoea nil from California are based on misidentified material of I. hederacea.

(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. muricata, 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 nil, Pharbitis hederacea, P. nil

Calonyction aculeatum, Convolvulus aculeatus

Name authority

(Linnaeus) Roth: Catal. Bot. 1: 36. (1797)

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

Web links

Local Web sites: LA Plants, MD Biodiversity
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 nil

Ipomoea alba

Ipomoea nil

Ipomoea alba