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Ipomoea lacunosa
Also called White Morning Glory, Pitted Morning Glory, White Star, Whitestar Potato, Small White Morning Glory, Small Flowered White Morning Glory, Pitted Morningglory
Whitestar is a fast-growing annual climbing vine native to the eastern and central United States, with small white morning-glory flowers. It thrives in warm sun and dies back after the first hard frost.
Ipomoea lacunosa, the whitestar, white morning-glory or pitted morning-glory, is a species that belongs to the genus Ipomoea. In this genus most members are commonly referred to as "morning glories". The name for the genus, Ipomoea, has roots in the Greek words ips and homoios, which translates to worm-like. This is a reference to the plant's vine-like growth. Lacunosa comes from a Latin word meaning air spaces, correlating with the venation of the leaves. Ipomoea lacunosa is native to the United States and grows annually. The flowers of this species are usually white and smaller than most other morning glories.
Since Ipomoea lacunosa is native to the United States, the plant can be found in multiple areas throughout the country. Ipomoea lacunosa occurs in almost every state on the east coast, as well as some states in the Midwest, and California. The states that the whitestar potato can be found in are as follows: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Washington D.C., Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Montana, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. This species was also introduced to Canada and lives successfully in the province of Ontario. Although this plant grows rapidly, its tendency to be invasive is rather small in comparison to other members of the genus.
Ipomoea lacunosa is one of the species of Ipomoea that is used on a small scale by humans. The whitestar potato that it produces is traditionally consumed by a number of Native American tribes like the Chiricahua Apaches.
Tropical white morning-glory · Swamp morning-glory · Ginger-leaf morning-glory · Sweet potato · Mile a minute vine · Gloria de la manana · Redstar · Ipomoea corymbosa · Lady Doorly's morning-glory · Beach morning-glory · Oceanblue Morning Glory · Spanish Flag
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Ipomoea lacunosa by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
Pet safety from the ASPCA toxic and non-toxic plant lists.
