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Ipomoea dumetorum; photograph (c) Paúl Gonzáles, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Paúl Gonzáles, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2024-11-12

Ipomoea dumetorum Willd.

Railwaycreeper

Convolvulaceae · New Mexico, Texas +11

Cited as Kew's World Checklist cites it, Ipomoea dumetorum Willd.: GBIF's backbone key for this page carries the name with another author, Willd. ex Roem. & Schult.

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Ipomoea dumetorum, photograph (c) Peter Quakenbush, some rights reserved (CC BY)Ipomoea dumetorum, photograph (c) Peter Quakenbush, some rights reserved (CC BY)Ipomoea dumetorum, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedIpomoea dumetorum, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedIpomoea dumetorum, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedIpomoea dumetorum, photograph author not stated, no rights reserved 60 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
2.2°C
Record low -1.5 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
23°C
Apr and May at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
983mm
8 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
31–45DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes June to October, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

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.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Ipomoea", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (504 mm of 686 mm) falls in June to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 15.8 °C against a yearly mean of 15.1 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to April.

Rain

686 mm in the median year at the habitat, 504 mm of it June to October. Wettest month July at 115 mm, driest month December at 13 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 519 mm to 1,800 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 983 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 686 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 31 to 45 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 26, the highest 90th-percentile month 48).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 2.2 °C, the absolute minimum -1.5 °C, 22 frost nights in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 33.2 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 7.3 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 3.8 °C to 11.6 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 23.1 °C in April and May (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 2.2 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 50 to 64% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: 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 moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

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

Light. 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.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -16 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Ipomoea dumetorum through the yearWarmest months April and May, mean daily high 23 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 7.3 °C; 686 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost33.2° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-1.5° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250300mm rainDLI 31–45RH 50–64%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 111 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C19 / 16–2320 / 16–2522 / 16–2823 / 17–2923 / 17–2922 / 17–2820 / 17–2620 / 18–2620 / 17–2520 / 17–2519 / 16–2519 / 16–23
Night °C7 / 4–128 / 4–129 / 6–1210 / 8–1411 / 8–1511 / 9–1711 / 8–1611 / 8–1611 / 9–1510 / 8–149 / 6–138 / 4–12
Rain mm26 / 10–13616 / 10–15614 / 6–20930 / 10–19760 / 34–16297 / 46–242115 / 24–290109 / 28–280107 / 57–25076 / 40–18723 / 10–17713 / 5–137
DLI32 / 27–3437 / 29–3942 / 30–4545 / 28–4843 / 26–4738 / 27–4337 / 28–4137 / 30–4034 / 31–3734 / 30–3632 / 27–3531 / 26–33
RH %54 / 50–6853 / 48–6950 / 45–6952 / 44–7056 / 49–6861 / 57–6863 / 57–6963 / 57–6864 / 58–6962 / 57–6858 / 52–6856 / 50–68

Records on both sides of the equator: the 40 cells at least 10° south of it have seasons six months apart and are left out, not combined into a year no place has. These figures are across the 111 cells that remain: the 70 at least 10° north and the 41 within 10° of the equator, which stay in either way.

How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 111 grid cells holding the 173 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1404:1564 (19.775, -101.775). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -1.5 °C, 1st-percentile night 2.2 °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). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 111 distinct grid cells holding 173 of the 214 in-range records on the northern side of the equator (70 cells poleward of 10° north, 40 poleward of 10° south: the two sides' seasons are not combined, and cells within 10° of the equator stay in); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1404:1564 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 20.00_-101.875, lapse-corrected -16 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 2062 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 the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeNew Mexico, Texas, Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Southwest, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Argentina Northwest, Chile North · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker19.317, -99.183 · in the densest population, 90 records (26% of those in range)
Kew's description“climbing annual” · “subtropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 345 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 173 of them in the land cells it reads, of 214 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 208 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 176 km away. 9 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 131 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
Other GBIF keysRecords also from GBIF's key 8223694 (Ipomoea dumetorum Willd.): Kew's file holds it as Ipomoea dumetorum Willd. (accepted); 26 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 345 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Ipomoea dumetorum, photograph 1did not loadIpomoea dumetorum, photograph 2did not loadIpomoea dumetorum, photograph 3did not loadIpomoea dumetorum, photograph 4did not loadIpomoea dumetorum, photograph 5did not loadIpomoea dumetorum, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Peter Quakenbush, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (4).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Adiantum poiretii Adiantum poiretii Mexican maidenhair Photo: CC BY, Neptalí Ramírez MarcialOenothera rosea Oenothera rosea Rosy evening-primrose Photo: CC0, author not statedStevia lucida Stevia lucida Asteraceae Photo: CC BY, birdzilla Echeveria gracilis Crassulaceae Sedum praealtum Sedum praealtum Green cockscomb Photo: CC BY, My-Lan LeSedum stahlii Sedum stahlii Coral beads Photo: CC BY, Ricardo Betancourt Sánchez

Other Ipomoea 106 in the reference

Ipomoea aitonii Convolvulaceae Ipomoea alba Ipomoea alba Moonflower Photo: CC BY, Brandon CorderIpomoea albivenia Ipomoea albivenia Climbing Kapok Photo: CC0, author not statedIpomoea amnicola Ipomoea amnicola Redcenter morning-glory Photo: CC0, author not statedIpomoea anisomeres Ipomoea anisomeres Convolvulaceae Photo: CC BY, Alexis López HernándezIpomoea aquatica Ipomoea aquatica Swamp morning-glory Photo: CC BY, renjus boxIpomoea arborescens Ipomoea arborescens Tree Morning Glory Photo: CC BY-SA, Adrian BojorquezIpomoea asarifolia Ipomoea asarifolia Ginger-leaf morning-glory Photo: CC BY, Marcello Mastroianni Albuquerque AraújoIpomoea bahiensis Ipomoea bahiensis Convolvulaceae Photo: CC BY, Paulo NogueiraIpomoea batatas Ipomoea batatas Sweet potato Photo: CC BY, winterfamilyIpomoea biflora Ipomoea biflora Bellvine Photo: CC BY, 如此甚好Ipomoea bolusiana Ipomoea bolusiana Narrowleaf Morning Glory Photo: CC0, dune_ninja all 107 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Convolvulus dumetorum; Convolvulus glaucescens; Convolvulus pauciflorus; Convolvulus pauciflorus var. uniflorus; Convolvulus pulchellus and 11 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataiNaturalist

The record

Family
Convolvulaceae
Described by
Willd.
Native to
New Mexico, Texas, Mexico Central +10
Wild records
345 in range · 208 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22GBIF's key 2928520 is Ipomoea dumetorum Willd. ex Roem. & Schult.; the page links Kew's Ipomoea dumetorum Willd., and the name is cited as Kew cites it
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredasked 2026-10-22GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 26 records of GBIF's key 8223694, Ipomoea dumetorum Willd. (Kew's file holds it as Ipomoea dumetorum Willd. (accepted)): GBIF occurrence search API; 19 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (10 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 9 at a herbarium; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 20.00_-101.875, lapse-corrected -16 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22IPNI and POWO linked by Kew's number for Ipomoea dumetorum Willd. (the item's: IPNI 268801-1, POWO 30061510-2)
Wikipedia wikipedia nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22read from the page's key and its other keys: 4 from GBIF's key 8223694
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 42 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…