Species
+

Ipomoea alba L.

Batatillo, Lilac Bell, Moonflower, Moonflower or moon vine

Climate known 48 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Ipomoea alba, known in English as white tropical morning glory, evening glory, moonflower or moonvine, is a species of night-blooming morning glory, native to tropical and subtropical regions of North and South America, from Argentina to northern Mexico, Arizona, Florida and the West Indies. Though formerly classified as genus Calonyction, species aculeatum, it is now properly assigned to genus Ipomoea, subgenus Quamoclit, section Calonyction.

Text from Wikipedia, “Ipomoea alba”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Ipomoea

Ipomoea is the largest genus in the plant family Convolvulaceae, with over 600 species. It is a large and diverse group, with common names including morning glory, water Convolvulus or water spinach, sweet potato, bindweed, moonflower, etc. The genus occurs throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the world, and comprises annual and perennial herbaceous plants, lianas, shrubs, and small trees; most of the species are twining climbing plants.

Text from Wikipedia, “Ipomoea”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Convolvulaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf +38
Wild records
794 in range· 486 open

At a glance

Warmest month
28°C
Mar, mean day; nights 20 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1380mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Sep 138 mm (CHELSA)
Light
28–36DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (September to March and June at the habitat (not shifted)). Habitat rain 1380 mm a year, wettest September at 138 mm, driest April at 94 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 36 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 11.3 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Bonanox indica Raf.; Bonanox riparia Raf.; Calonyction aculeatum (L.) House; Calonyction aculeatum f. apopetalum Allard; Calonyction aculeatum var. lobatum (Hallier fil.) C.Y.Wu and 45 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (September to March and June at the habitat (not shifted)).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (983 mm of 1380 mm) takes 8 months, September to March and June. Mean temperature moves 2.5 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; with a flat temperature curve there is no season to reverse, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1380 mm a year, wettest September at 138 mm, driest April at 94 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1380 mm a year at the habitat, 983 mm of it September to March and June. Wettest month September at 138 mm, driest April at 94 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 858 mm to 2517 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 36 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 36 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 15, the highest 90th-percentile month 46).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 11.3 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 11.3 °C, the absolute minimum 6.5 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 33.2 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 17.3 °C in July (across the envelope cells 8.3 °C to 24.6 °C), warmest day 27.8 °C in March (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 11.3 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 61 to 64% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 25 °C in Jul to 28 °C in Mar; mean night from 17 °C in Jul to 20 °C in Feb. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 1380 mm of rain a year, most in Sep. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 635 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 6.5 °C and the 99th-percentile day 33.2 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°35°33.2° 99th-percentile day (undated)6.5° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 28–36RH 61–64 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 635 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C27 / 23–3128 / 24–3028 / 24–3127 / 22–3227 / 19–3226 / 17–3125 / 16–3126 / 19–3126 / 20–3127 / 21–3027 / 22–3027 / 22–30
Night °C20 / 12–2420 / 13–2420 / 14–2319 / 14–2319 / 12–2418 / 9–2517 / 8–2518 / 10–2518 / 11–2419 / 13–2419 / 14–2319 / 13–23
Rain mm118 / 17–271115 / 11–227119 / 7–23594 / 14–20296 / 25–244115 / 22–326110 / 19–31397 / 24–325138 / 49–337132 / 55–292121 / 19–231125 / 11–245
DLI34 / 25–4536 / 30–4034 / 30–4332 / 24–4530 / 19–4428 / 15–4029 / 17–4032 / 22–4032 / 27–3734 / 28–3834 / 26–4333 / 24–46
RH %63 / 55–6962 / 56–6961 / 55–6962 / 55–6962 / 56–6964 / 59–7063 / 57–7063 / 56–7064 / 56–7163 / 57–7062 / 56–7062 / 56–69

Each figure is the median across the 635 grid cells holding the 778 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1360:1999 (21.975, -80.025). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 6.5 °C, 1st-percentile night 11.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 33.2 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 635 distinct grid cells holding the 778 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1360:1999 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 22.00_-80.000, lapse-corrected +445 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 582 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeMexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, C. American Pacific Is., El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Bahamas, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Windward Is., French Guiana, Guyana, Surinam, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Galápagos, Peru, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil North, Brazil South, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Paraguay, Uruguay· introduced: Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gulf of Guinea Is., Zaïre, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Cape Provinces, KwaZulu-Natal, Northern Provinces, St.Helena, Comoros, Mauritius, Madagascar, Réunion, China South-Central, Hainan, China North-Central, China Southeast, Korea, Nansei-shoto, Ogasawara-shoto, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Himalaya, Andaman Is., Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatera, New Guinea, Solomon Is., Norfolk Is., New South Wales, Queensland, Kermadec Is., Fiji, New Caledonia, Samoa, Tokelau-Manihiki, Tonga, Vanuatu, Cook Is., Line Is., Marquesas, Pitcairn Is., Society Is., Tuamotu, Tubuai Is., Caroline Is., Marianas, Hawaii, Texas, Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, Bermuda
Kew's description“climbing herbaceous tree or liana” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-34.605, -58.361 · in the densest population, 204 records (26% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 794 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 486 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker in the same place. 858 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 16 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 794 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

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Photographs: (c) ritirene, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); (c) Steven Bodzin, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Dinesh Valke, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (2).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Ipomoea alba, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Prehistoric Polymers: Rubber Processing in Ancient Mesoamerica
Dorothy Hosler, Sandra L. Burkett, Michael J. Tarkanian (1999) · Science
America’s First Polymer Scientists: Rubber Processing, Use and Transport in Mesoamerica
Michael J. Tarkanian, Dorothy Hosler (2011) · Latin American Antiquity
New trends in dentistry: plant extracts against Enterococcus faecalis. The efficacy compared to chlorhexidine
Adriana Lígia de Castilho, Cintia Helena Coury Saraceni, Ingrit Elida Collantes Díaz, Mateus Luís Barradas Paciencia (2013) · Brazilian Oral Research
Mammalian Multidrug Resistance Lipopentasaccharide Inhibitors from Ipomoea alba Seeds
Sara E. Cruz-Morales, Jhon Castañeda-Gómez, Gabriela Figueroa‐González, Alma Delia Mendoza-García (2012) · Journal of Natural Products
Resin Glycosides from Ipomoea alba Seeds as Potential Chemosensitizers in Breast Carcinoma Cells
Sara E. Cruz-Morales, Jhon Castañeda-Gómez, Daniel Rosas–Ramírez, Mabel Fragoso‐Serrano (2016) · Journal of Natural Products
Structure of aquatic vegetation of a large lake, western border of the Brazilian Pantanal
NL. Cunha, Milena Delatorre, RB. Rodrigues, C. Vidotto (2012) · Brazilian Journal of Biology
Acetone leaf extracts of seven invasive weeds have promising activity against eight important plant fungal pathogens
M. Meela, Ladislaus K. Mdee, Peter Masoko, J.N. Eloff (2019) · South African Journal of Botany
The structure of ipalbine, a new hexahydroindolizine alkaloid, isolated from Ipomoea alba L.
J. M. Gourley, R. A. Heacock, A. G. McInnes, B. I. Nikolin (1969) · Journal of the Chemical Society D Chemical Communications
In vitro activity of Amazon plant extracts against Enterococcus faecalis
Adriana Lígia de Castilho, Juliana Paola Corrêa da SILVA, Cintia Helena Coury Saraceni, Ingrit Elida Collantes Díaz (2014) · Brazilian Journal of Microbiology
A Synthesis of (±)-Ipalbidine Using Sulfur-controlled 6-Exo Selective Radical Cyclization of α-Phenylthio Amide
Masazumi Ikeda, Jiro Shikaura, Noriko Maekawa, Kaori Daibuzono (1999) · Heterocycles
Anti-Streptococcal activity of Brazilian Amazon Rain Forest plant extracts presents potential for preventive strategies against dental caries
Juliana Paola Corrêa da SILVA, Adriana Lígia de Castilho, Cintia Helena Coury Saraceni, Ingrit Elida Collantes Díaz (2014) · Journal of Applied Oral Science

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Ipomoea 12 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 168 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.