Species
+

Ipomoea aquatica Forssk.

Bhaji, Chinese water-spinach, Chinese water-spinach, Chinese waterspinach

Climate known 60 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 aquatica, commonly known as water spinach or kangkung, is a semi-aquatic, tropical plant grown as a vegetable for its tender shoots. I. aquatica is generally believed to have been first domesticated in Southeast Asia. It is widely cultivated in Southeast Asia, East Asia, and South Asia. It grows abundantly near waterways and requires little to no care.

Text from Wikipedia, “Ipomoea aquatica”, 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
Forssk.
Native to
Gambia, The, Ghana, Guinea +70
Wild records
1494 in range· 763 open

At a glance

Warmest month
31°C
Apr, mean day; nights 24 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1278mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Aug 186 mm (CHELSA)
Light
31–37DLI
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: a sharp rainy season, April to September at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (2.4 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred. Habitat rain 1278 mm a year, wettest August at 186 mm, driest January at 32 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 31 to 37 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 16.2 °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 Convolvulus adansonii Desr.; Convolvulus argyi H.Lév.; Convolvulus clappertonii Spreng.; Convolvulus repens Vahl; Convolvulus rostratus Zipp. and 16 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, April to September at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (2.4 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred.

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

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the year's rain (927 mm of 1278 mm) falls in April to September. The temperature curve is flat, 2.4 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern 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 1278 mm a year, wettest August at 186 mm, driest January at 32 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1278 mm a year at the habitat, 927 mm of it April to September. Wettest month August at 186 mm, driest January at 32 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 701 mm to 2920 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern 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: 31 to 37 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 31 to 37 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 21, the highest 90th-percentile month 45).

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 16.2 °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 16.2 °C, the absolute minimum 14.0 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 33.5 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 20.3 °C in January (across the envelope cells 12.3 °C to 25.2 °C), warmest day 31.1 °C in April (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 16.2 °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: 60 to 65% 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 29 °C in Dec to 31 °C in Apr; mean night from 20 °C in Jan to 24 °C in Jun. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1278 mm of rain a year, most in Aug. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 1100 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 14.0 °C and the 99th-percentile day 33.5 °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°40°33.5° 99th-percentile day (undated)14.0° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 31–37RH 60–65 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 1100 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 °C29 / 20–3330 / 20–3431 / 23–3631 / 25–3831 / 27–3830 / 27–3530 / 27–3230 / 27–3330 / 27–3430 / 26–3629 / 24–3529 / 21–33
Night °C20 / 12–2521 / 14–2523 / 16–2524 / 19–2624 / 20–2724 / 19–2724 / 18–2624 / 19–2623 / 20–2523 / 20–2522 / 17–2620 / 14–25
Rain mm32 / 1–36557 / 1–34581 / 4–29995 / 12–224151 / 11–281148 / 2–382169 / 2–406186 / 2–409178 / 9–36384 / 21–31164 / 4–28033 / 1–284
DLI33 / 22–3935 / 25–4037 / 29–4337 / 29–4535 / 29–4333 / 27–3833 / 25–3733 / 26–3932 / 28–4332 / 27–4531 / 24–4331 / 21–39
RH %62 / 41–6762 / 42–6762 / 42–6761 / 44–6862 / 48–6863 / 49–6964 / 50–6865 / 51–6964 / 53–6963 / 50–6860 / 46–6861 / 43–67

Each figure is the median across the 1100 grid cells holding the 1454 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 2301:4539 (-25.075, 46.975). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 14.0 °C, 1st-percentile night 16.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 33.5 °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 1100 distinct grid cells holding the 1454 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2301:4539 (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 -25.00_46.875, lapse-corrected -196 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 22 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.
NativeGambia, The, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Burundi, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Zaïre, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Caprivi Strip, Namibia, KwaZulu-Natal, Comoros, Madagascar, Gulf States, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, China South-Central, China Southeast, Assam, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Himalaya, Andaman Is., Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Nicobar Is., Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatera, New Guinea, Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia, Fiji, Gilbert Is., Vanuatu, Caroline Is., Marianas· introduced: Burkina, Mauritius, Réunion, Seychelles, Palestine, South China Sea, Christmas I., Solomon Is., Nauru, New Caledonia, Samoa, Wallis-Futuna Is., Society Is., Hawaii, California, Florida, Mississippi, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Aruba, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, French Guiana, Guyana, Surinam, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Southeast, Brazil North
Kew's description“climbing helophyte” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker23.187, 120.315 · in the densest population, 336 records (22% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1494 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 763 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 4193 km away. 225 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 40 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 1494 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Ipomoea aquaticaIpomoea aquaticaIpomoea aquaticaIpomoea aquaticaIpomoea aquaticaIpomoea aquaticaIpomoea aquaticaIpomoea aquatica

Photographs: (c) Greg Tasney, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (8).

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 aquatica, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Total Phenolic Content, Flavonoid Content and Antioxidant Potential of Wild Vegetables from Western Nepal
Sushant Aryal, Manoj Kumar Baniya, Krisha Danekhu, Puspa Kunwar (2019) · Plants
Heavy Metal Accumulation in Water, Soil, and Plants of Municipal Solid Waste Landfill in Vientiane, Laos
Vongdala Noudeng, Hoang-Dung Tran, Tran Dang Xuan, Rolf Teschke (2018) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Power Generation Enhancement by Utilizing Plant Photosynthate in Microbial Fuel Cell Coupled Constructed Wetland System
Shentan Liu, Hai–Liang Song, Xian-Ning Li, Fei Yang (2013) · International Journal of Photoenergy
Enzymes inhibitors from natural sources with antidiabetic activity: A review
Fiaz Alam, Zainab Shafique, Sayyeda Tayyeba Amjad, Muhammad Hassham Hassan Bin Asad (2018) · Phytotherapy Research
Influence of Nutrient Levels on Uptake and Effects of Mercury, Cadmium, and Lead in Water Spinach
Agneta Göthberg, Maria Greger, Karin Holm, Bengt‐Erik Bengtsson (2004) · Journal of Environmental Quality
Nutrient removal from aquaculture wastewater by vegetable production in aquaponics recirculation system
Azizah Endut, Ahmad Jusoh, Nora’aini Ali, W.B. Wan Nik (2011) · Desalination and Water Treatment
Variation in Cadmium Accumulation among 30 Cultivars and Cadmium Subcellular Distribution in 2 Selected Cultivars of Water Spinach (Ipomoea aquatica Forsk.)
Junli Wang, Jiangang Yuan, Zhongyi Yang, Baifei Huang (2009) · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Efficiency of Five Selected Aquatic Plants in Phytoremediation of Aquaculture Wastewater
Nurul Umairah M. Nizam, ‪Marlia M. Hanafiah‬, Izzati Mohd Noor, Hazwani Izzati Abd Karim (2020) · Applied Sciences
Effect of flow rate on water quality parameters and plant growth of water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) in an aquaponic recirculating system
Azizah Endut, Ahmad Jusoh, Nora’aini Ali, W.B. Wan Nik (2009) · Desalination and Water Treatment
Isolation of a free radical‐scavenging antioxidant from water spinach ( Ipomoea aquatica Forsk)
K. Nagendra Prasad, Soundar Divakar, Gyarahally Rangappa Shivamurthy, Somaradhya Mallikarjuna Aradhya (2005) · Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture

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 149 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.