Ivy Morning Glory (Ipomoea nil) — identification, habitat & look-alikes

Ivy Morning Glory is an climbing vine found in gardens and along roadsides in parts of the southern and eastern United States. Its flowers open early in the morning and usually fade by afternoon. It is also widely called Japanese morning glory.

Appearance

Growth form: This is an annual vine with hairy, twining stems that can reach about 7–16 ft (2–5 m).
Leaves: The leaves are usually heart-based and divided into three pointed lobes, although cultivated plants can vary greatly.
Flowers: Funnel-shaped flowers are commonly blue to purple with a pale tube, but cultivated plants may be pink, red, white, or patterned. A flower opens in the morning and usually fades later the same day.
Fruit: The fruit is a small, round that splits to release dark seeds.

Look-alikes

Common Morning GloryIpomoea purpurea

Common Morning Glory has shorter with pointed tips. Ivy Morning Glory has longer sepals that taper into narrow tips. Leaf shape can overlap, so check the back of a flower.

Why they get mixed upBoth are annual twining vines with similarly colored funnel-shaped flowers.

Ivy-leaved Morning GloryIpomoea hederacea

The long sepal tips of Ivy-leaved Morning Glory often curve or spread outward. Those of Ivy Morning Glory are usually straighter. A close photo of the back of a flower helps; the two can be hard to separate from leaves alone.

Why they get mixed upWild plants can look nearly identical unless the back of the flower or a fruit is visible.

Three similar morning glories

	Sepals	Sepal tips
Ivy Morning Glory	Usually long	Usually straight
Common Morning Glory	Shorter	Short and pointed
Ivy-leaved Morning Glory	Usually long	Often curved outward

Where it lives

Typical habitats: gardens and fences
roadsides and disturbed ground
Range: In the United States, wild records are documented from parts of the South and East, including Texas, Louisiana, North Carolina, Maryland, and Kentucky. California reports of this species were misidentifications of Ivy-leaved Morning Glory (Ipomoea hederacea).
Preferred conditions: It grows as a twining vine in open, sunny places and needs nearby stems, fences, or other supports to climb.

Life cycle

Reproduction: It completes its life cycle in one growing season and reproduces by seed.

Cautions

Cautions: The whole plant is poisonous, especially the seeds. Swallowing seeds can cause vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, hallucinations, or delirium.

Name and classification

About the name: The name “ivy-leaved morning glory” often names a different, very similar species, so that name alone is unreliable for identification.
Varieties and forms: Garden selections include large-flowered, patterned, and unusually shaped leaf and flower forms. Flower color alone is not reliable for identification.

Conservation

IUCN Red List: NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed

Culture and stories

Culture and stories: Its Japanese Morning Glory name reflects a long cultivation history in Japan, not a Japanese origin.

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