morning-glories (Ipomoea) — identification, habitat & look-alikes

Morning-glories range from familiar fence-covering vines to sweet potato, one of the world's major food crops. Many have funnel-shaped flowers that open for only part of a day, but the genus also includes creeping herbs, shrubs, and small trees.

In this group

common morning-gloryIpomoea purpurea

This annual vine is widely grown and also escapes along roadsides and fields. Broad heart-shaped leaves and large purple, pink, blue, or white flowers are common.

sweet potatoIpomoea batatas

This tropical crop grows as a trailing vine and forms thick . Leaf shape varies greatly among cultivars.

ivy-leaved morning-gloryIpomoea hederacea

This annual of fields and disturbed ground often has three-lobed leaves. Long, narrow that curve outward help separate it from similar vines.

white morning-gloryIpomoea lacunosa

This native annual has small white flowers and grows in fields and disturbed ground across much of the eastern and central United States.

red morning gloryIpomoea coccinea

This southeastern native has small red-orange flowers with a yellow throat. The fruiting stalk bends downward, which helps separate it from a similar species, Ipomoea rubriflora.

wild potato vineIpomoea pandurata

This native perennial has a very large underground root and white flowers with a purple throat. It occurs in dry fields, roadsides, and open woods in the eastern United States.

Appearance

Leaves: Leaves may be heart-shaped, three-lobed, deeply divided, or made up of separate leaflets. Cypress vine (Ipomoea quamoclit) stands out because its leaves are cut into many narrow, feathery segments.
Flowers: Flowers may be white, blue, purple, pink, red, or orange. Many open in the morning and wilt later the same day, while moonflowers open toward evening.
Fruit: Most species produce a dry with several seeds.
How to recognize it: Many species are vines that wind around supports, with leaves spaced along the stem. Their funnel-shaped flowers have joined petals and grow where a leaf joins the stem. Leaf shape, the shape of the sepals, hairiness, and the way the fruit hangs often help separate species.

Look-alikes

hedge bindweedCalystegia sepium

Hedge bindweed is a perennial that spreads by underground roots, and two large leafy enclose the base of each flower. Many common garden morning-glories are annuals grown from seed.

Why they get mixed upBoth are twining vines with large trumpet-shaped flowers.

Where it lives

Typical habitats: roadsides and fields
coasts and wetlands
gardens and farms
Range: Ipomoea is centered in tropical and subtropical regions of both the Old and New Worlds. The United States has native species as well as cultivated and introduced annual morning-glories.
Preferred conditions: Common annual garden species grow quickly in warm, sunny weather and climb fences or trellises. Other members are adapted to beaches, wetlands, deserts, or tropical woodland.

Growing it

Propagation: Annual morning-glories return from seed. Sweet potato is normally propagated from vine cuttings or sprouts rather than from seed.

Name and classification

About the name: A morning-glory (Ipomoea nil) was formerly called Pharbitis nil; red morning glory (Ipomoea coccinea) was formerly called Quamoclit coccinea.
Group name: “Morning-glories” commonly refers to showy Ipomoea vines, but the name is also used for some bindweeds in other genera. Field bindweed and hedge bindweed are troublesome perennial weeds in different genera. Sweet potato belongs to Ipomoea even though it is rarely called a morning-glory in everyday speech.

Culture and stories

Culture and stories: People also eat sweet potato leaves.

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