Taxon: Ipomoea aquatica Forssk.

A declared noxious weed by USDA-APHIS.

A declared aquatic or terrestrial noxious weed and/or noxious-weed seed in these U.S. states (see state noxious weed lists), with links to state information or web documents:

ALª, FLª, MAª, NCª, NHª, OKª, SCª, TXª.

ªAquatic.

*Terrestrial.

°In seed.

Link to noxious weed information from

Link to species profile at

Common names:

• Chinese water-spinach   (Source: USDA/APHIS ) – English
  
• swamp morning-glory   (Source: Names Beetle ) – English
  
• water-convolvulus   (Source: G. W. Staples, p.c.) – English
  
• water-spinach   (Source: World Econ Pl ) – English
  
• liseron d'eau   (Source: Pl Res SEAs 8:181.) – French
  
• patate aquatique   (Source: Dict Rehm ) – French
  
• Wasserspinat   (Source: Dict Rehm ) – German
  
• kangkong   (Source: Mansf Ency ) – Indonesian
  
• kangkung   (Source: F Males ) – Malay
  
• cancon   (Source: Dict Rehm ) – Portuguese
  
• espinaca acuática   (Source: Dict Rehm ) – Spanish
  

More:

see MMPND for additional names in foreign scripts

Economic importance:

• Human food: vegetable   (widely traded in SE Asia fide Use Pl WT Afr; Invasive Pl Spec)
  
• Animal food: fodder   (fide Pl Res SEAs 8:181. 1993; Invasive Pl Spec)
  
• Medicines: folklore   (fide Herbs Commerce ed2)
  
• Weed: also potential seed contaminant   (fide Rep NCEPPC; Invasive Pl Spec)
  

More:

View phytochemical or ethnobotanical data from Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases

View ethnobotanical data from Moerman's Native American Ethnobotany Database

Distributional range:

• AFRICA
  Northeast Tropical Africa: Chad; Ethiopia; Somalia; Sudan
  East Tropical Africa: Kenya; Tanzania [incl. Pemba, Zanzibar]; Uganda
  West-Central Tropical Africa: Burundi; Cameroon; Central African Republic; Congo
  West Tropical Africa: Gambia; Ghana; Guinea; Mali; Mauritania; Nigeria; Senegal; Sierra Leone
  South Tropical Africa: Angola; Malawi; Mozambique; Zambia; Zimbabwe
  Southern Africa: Botswana; Namibia
• ASIA-TEMPERATE
  China: China
• ASIA-TROPICAL
  Indian Subcontinent: Bangladesh; India; Nepal; Pakistan; Sri Lanka
  Indo-China: Cambodia; Laos; Myanmar; Thailand; Vietnam
  Malesia: Indonesia; Malaysia; Papua New Guinea; Philippines
• AUSTRALASIA
  Australia: Australia - Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia
• SOUTHERN AMERICA
  Mesoamerica: Costa Rica; Nicaragua; Panama
  Caribbean: Dominican Republic; Haiti; Jamaica
  Northern South America: Guyana; Suriname
  Brazil: Brazil
  Western South America: Peru

• NORTHERN AMERICA (Check conservation status in U.S. & Canada in NatureServe Explorer database)
  United States
• PACIFIC
  North-Central Pacific: United States - Hawaii
  Northwestern Pacific: Micronesia
  South-Central Pacific: French Polynesia

• ASIA-TEMPERATE
  China: China
• widely cultivated in tropics

References:

• PROTABASE, the information base of PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa) - on-line resource. (PROTABASE)
• Adams, C. 1972. Flowering plants of Jamaica. (F Jam)
• Austin, D. F. & Z. Huáman. 1996. A synopsis of Ipomoea (Convolvulaceae) in the Americas. Taxon 45:5.
• Austin, D. F. 2007. Water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica, Convolvulaceae): a food gone wild. Ethnobot. Res. Applic. 5:123–146.
• Backer, C. A. & R. C. Bakhuizen van den Brink, Jr. 1963–1968. Flora of Java. (F Java)
• Beetle, A. A. 1970. Recommended plant names. Univ. Wyoming Agr. Exp. Sta. Res. J. 31. (Names Beetle)
• Berhaut, J. 1971–. Flore illustrée du Senegal. (F Senegal)
• Bhandari, M. M. 1978. Flora of the Indian desert. (F IndDes)
• Burkill, H. M. 1985–2004. The useful plants of west tropical Africa. (Use Pl WT Afr)
• Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants. Florida state list aquatic & wetland noxious weeds - from Department of Environmental Protection - on-line document. (FL AquaNoxweed)
• Cufodontis, G. 1953–1972. Enumeratio plantarum aethiopiae: Spermatophyta. (F EthiopCuf)
• Dassanayake, M. D. & F. R. Fosberg, eds. 1980–. A revised handbook to the flora of Ceylon. (F Ceylon)
• Encke, F. et al. 1984. Zander: Handwörterbuch der Pflanzennamen, 13. Auflage. (Zander ed13)
• Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO). 2010. Ecocrop - on-line resource. (Ecocrop)
• Fosberg, F. R. et al. 1979–1982. Geographical checklist of the Micronesian Dicotyledonae/ Pteridophyta and Gymnospermae. (L Micrones)
• Hanelt, P., ed. 2001. Mansfeld's encyclopedia of agricultural and horticultural crops. Volumes 1-6. (Mansf Ency) 4:1860.
• Hara, H. et al. 1978–1982. An enumeration of the flowering plants of Nepal. (L Nepal)
• Hara, H. Flora of eastern Himalaya. v. 1:1966, v. 2:1971, v. 3:1975 (F EHimal)
• Holm, L. et al. 1979. A geographical atlas of world weeds. (Atlas WWeed)
• Kartesz, J. T. 1994. A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland. (L US Can ed2)
• Keay, R. W. J. & F. N. Hepper. 1953–1972. Flora of west tropical Africa, ed. 2. (F WT Afr)
• Lejoly, J. & S. Lisowski. 1992. Les genres Merremia et Ipomoea (Convolvulaceae) dans la flore d'Afrique Centrale (Zaire, Rwanda, Burundi). Fragm. Florist. Geobot. 37:110.
• Li, H. L. et al., eds. 1975–1979. Flora of Taiwan. (F Taiwan)
• Markle, G. M. et al., eds. 1998. Food and feed crops of the United States, ed. 2. (Food Feed Crops US)
• Matthew, K. M. 1983. The flora of the Tamilnadu Carnatic. (F TamilC)
• McGuffin, M., J. T. Kartesz, A. Y. Leung, & A. O. Tucker. 2000. Herbs of commerce, ed. 2. (Herbs Commerce ed2)
• Merxmüller, H., ed. 1966–1972. Prodromus einer flora von Sudwestafrika. (F Namib)
• Nasir, E. & S. I. Ali, eds. 1970–. Flora of [West] Pakistan. (F Pak)
• Plant Protection and Quarantine Office. United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Federal noxious weed list. (USDA/APHIS)
• Porcher, M. H. et al. Searchable World Wide Web Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database (MMPND) - on-line resource. (Pl Names)
• Rehm, S. 1994. Multilingual dictionary of agronomic plants. (Dict Rehm)
• Ross, J. 1972. The flora of Natal. (F Natal)
• Saldanha, C. J. & D. H. Nicolson. 1976. Flora of Hassan district. (F Hassan)
• Siemonsma, J. S. & Kasem Piluek, eds. 1993. Vegetables. Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA). (Pl Res SEAs) 8:181–184.
• Staples, G. W. 1996. pers. comm. [re. English common names].
• Steenis, C. G. G. J. van, ed. 1948–. Flora malesiana. (F Males)
• Steward, A. N. 1958. Manual of vascular plants of the lower Yangtze valley. (F LowYangtze)
• Turrill, W. B. et al., eds. 1952–. Flora of tropical East Africa. (F TE Afr)
• USDA National Agricultural Library. National Invasive Species Information Center (Nat Invasive Sp Info)
• Walker, E. 1976. Flora of Okinawa and the southern Ryukyu Islands. (F Okin)
• Weber, E. 2003. Invasive plant species of the world: a reference guide to environmental weeds. (Invasive Pl Spec)
• Westphal, E. & P. C. M. Jansen, eds. 1989. A selection. Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA). (Pl Res SEAs) A:164.
• Wu Zheng-yi & P. H. Raven et al., eds. 1994–. Flora of China (English edition). (F ChinaEng)
• Yunnan Inst. Bot. & Kunming Inst. Bot. Acad. Sci., eds. 1977–. Flora yunnanica. (F Yunnan)

More:

Search AGRICOLA article citation database for citations referencing Ipomoea aquatica.

Search NCBI's Entrez search engine for PubMed citations referencing Ipomoea aquatica. Note: Defaults to a search by genus or species epithet if species binomial not found.

Synonyms:

• (=) Ipomoea reptans Poir.
  (previously associated with 6 accessions)

Check other databases for Ipomoea aquatica Forssk.:

• Flora of China: Online version from Harvard University
• AVH: Australia's Virtual Herbarium Map Display Interface
• SIBIS: South African National Biodiversity Institute's (SANBI) Integrated Biodiversity System
• On-line Flora of Zimbabwe
• PLANTS: USDA-NRCS Database of Plants of the United States and its Territories
• TROPICOS: Nomenclatural and Specimen Database of the Missouri Botanical Garden
• Mansfeld: Mansfeld's World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops
• PROTABASE: Plant Resources of Tropical Africa's (PROTA's) online resource
• ePIC: Electronic Plant Information Centre of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
• AGRICOLA: Article Citation Database or NAL Catalog of USDA's National Agricultural Library
• Entrez: NCBI's search engine for PubMed citations, GenBank sequences, etc.
  Note: Defaults to a search by genus or species epithet if species binomial not found.

Images:

• Disseminule drawings: U.S. National Seed Herbarium drawing
• Embryo drawing: U.S. National Seed Herbarium drawing
• Forestry Images: from www.forestryimages.org

More:

• Check PlantSystematics.org for additional images
• Images Note: Be advised that their identity may be inaccurate. Proper identification of a plant may require specialized taxonomic knowledge or comparison with properly documented herbarium material.

Abbreviations & symbols in GRIN Taxonomy

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