Carnegiea gigantea, Giant Saguaro

Southwest Desert Flora

Home to the plants of the Sonoran, Chihuahuan and Mojave Deserts

Cirsium ochrocentrum, Yellowspine Thistle

Ipomoea capillacea, Purple Morning-glory

Ipomoea capillacea, Purple Morning-glory, Southwest Desert Flora Ipomoea capillacea, Purple Morning-glory, Southwest Desert Flora


Scientific Name: Ipomoea capillacea
Common Name: Purple Morning-glory
Also Called: Purple Morningglory
Family: Convolvulaceae, Morning Glory Family
Synonyms: (Convolvulus capillaceus, Ipomoea muricata)
Status: Native
Duration: Perennial
Size: Unknown.
Growth Form: Forb/herb; plants glabrous, erect or ascending, slender branches.
Leaves: Green; sessile, linear or almost thread-like, fascicled.
Flower Color: Purple; flowers solitary off slender branches, fruit a globose capsule.
Flowering Season: July to September.
Elevation: 5,000 to 6,000 feet.

Habitat Preferences: Oak woodland and ponderosa pine communities.

Recorded Range: Relatively rare in the United States Ipomoea capillacea is found in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Alabama. Primarily from Arizona and New Mexico. Alabama a 1984 literature record. It also occurs through much of Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula and northern South America.
In Arizona it is primarily in the central and southern parts of the state.

North America & US County Distribution Map for Ipomoea capillacea.


U.S. Weed Information: No information available.

Invasive/Noxious Weed Information: The genus Ipomoea is listed as a Noxious Weed by Arizona and Arkansas. Exceptions in Arizona are:
Ipomoea carnea, Mexican bush morning glory,
Ipomoea triloba, Three-lobed Morning Glory, and
Ipomoea arborescens, Morning Glory Tree the federal government and/or a State.
Plants included here are invasive or noxious.

Wetland Indicator: No information available.
Threatened/Endangered Information: No information available.

Genus Information: 67 species more or less in Ipomoea throughout most of the United States and eastern Canada. 14 species in Arizona.

Comments: Not much information exists for this species. As with other Arizona Morning-glories, perhaps Purple Morning-glory should be removed from the states noxious weed list.

Also see in Southwest Desert Flora; Canyon Morning-glory, Ipomoea barbatisepala, Crestrib Morning-glory, Ipomoea costellata, Trans-Pecos morning-glory, Ipomoea cristulata, Ivyleaf Morning-glory, Ipomoea hederacea, Pinkthroat Morning-glory, Ipomoea longifolia, and Tripleleaf Morning-glory, Ipomoea ternifolia.

Date Profile Completed: 3/31/2015, rev. 07/22/2015, updated format 10/11/2017
References:
U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service on-line database – ITIS search
Arizona Flora, Kearney, Thomas H., Peebles, Robert H., 1960, University of California Press, Berkley and Los Angeles, California, as Ipomoea muricata.
Austin, Daniel F. 1998. J. Ariz. - Nev. Acad. Sci. Convolvulaceae 30(2): 61.
SEINet for synonyms, scientific names and recorded geographic locations, http://swbiodiversity.org/seinet/.