Ipomoea albaL.

Moonflower or moon vinetropical white morning-glory

WFO wfo-0001297242 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Ipomoea alba, photographed by Pablo
fig. a Pablo, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-12 / obs. 205465096
Ipomoea alba, photographed by María Zeta
fig. b María Zeta, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 199848246
Ipomoea alba, photographed by Eduardo Luis Beltrocco
fig. c Eduardo Luis Beltrocco, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 201863161
Ipomoea alba, photographed by Andrew Gillespie
fig. d Andrew Gillespie, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 195924321
Ipomoea alba, photographed by Ezequiel Vera
fig. e Ezequiel Vera, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 193952341
Ipomoea alba, photographed by Matias Cabezas
fig. f Matias Cabezas, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 192583209
Ipomoea alba, photographed by Francisco Farriols Sarabia
fig. g Francisco Farriols Sarabia, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 191995235
Ipomoea alba, photographed by Frank Thomas Sautter
fig. h Frank Thomas Sautter, CC0 1.0 / obs. 189243850

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 41 botanical countries

Regions where Ipomoea alba is native: Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Central American Pacific Is., Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Galápagos, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela, Windward Is. Mexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico NorthwestMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestArgentina NortheastArgentina NorthwestBelizeBoliviaBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBrazil SouthBrazil SoutheastBrazil West-CentralCentral American Pacific Is.ColombiaCosta RicaCubaDominican RepublicEcuadorEl SalvadorFrench GuianaGuatemalaGuyanaHaitiHondurasJamaicaNicaraguaPanamáParaguayPeruPuerto RicoSurinameTrinidad-TobagoUruguayVenezuela BahamasGalápagosLeeward Is.Windward Is.
Native distribution of Ipomoea alba, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Argentina Northeast AGE SOUTHERN AMERICA
Argentina Northwest AGW
Bahamas BAH
Belize BLZ
Bolivia BOL
Brazil North BZN
Brazil Northeast BZE
Brazil South BZS
Brazil Southeast BZL
Brazil West-Central BZC
Central American Pacific Is. CPI
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Cuba CUB
Dominican Republic DOM
Ecuador ECU
El Salvador ELS
French Guiana FRG
Galápagos GAL
Guatemala GUA
Guyana GUY
Haiti HAI
Honduras HON
Jamaica JAM
Leeward Is. LEE
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Paraguay PAR
Peru PER
Puerto Rico PUE
Suriname SUR
Trinidad-Tobago TRT
Uruguay URU
Venezuela VEN
Windward Is. WIN
Mexico Central MXC NORTHERN AMERICA
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Northwest MXN
Mexico Southeast MXT
Mexico Southwest MXS

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 471 in flower of 506 examined

Peak flowering in May. Each bar is the share of Ipomoea alba observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 471 of 506 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 44 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Bonanox indica Raf.
  • Bonanox riparia Raf.
  • Calonyction aculeatum (L.) House
  • Calonyction aculeatum f. apopetalum Allard
  • Calonyction aculeatum var. lobatum (Hallier f.) C.Y.Wu
  • Calonyction album (L.) House
  • Calonyction bona-nox (Spreng.) Bojer
  • Calonyction bona-nox var. lobatum Hallier f.
  • Calonyction macrantholeucum Colla
  • Calonyction megalocarpum A.Rich.
  • Calonyction noctolucum G.Don
  • Calonyction pulcherrimum Parodi
  • Calonyction rheedi Colla
  • Calonyction roxburghii G.Don
  • Calonyction speciosum Choisy
  • Chonemorpha convolvuloides G.Don
  • Convolvulus aculeatus L.
  • Convolvulus aculeatus var. bona-nox (L.) Kuntze
  • Convolvulus bona-nox Spreng.
  • Convolvulus duartinus Mure
  • Convolvulus latiflorus Desr.
  • Convolvulus macrosolen Spreng.
  • Convolvulus maximus L.f.
  • Convolvulus pulcherrimus Vell.

and 20 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.