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Convolvulaceae family

Whiteflower Beach Morning-glory Ipomoea littoralis

Whiteflower Beach Morning-glory is an introduced perennial vine, found in the Pacific Basin.

More about this plant

Ipomoea littoralis is a trailing herb or sometimes twining that is found tropical sea line area of Asia. The flower is beautiful and bright pink. In Bangladesh, it is found in Saint Martin's Island and along the Takanaf coastline of Cox's Bazar. The funnel-shaped, pink, or pinkish-purple flowers attract the insect. It is a rare wild morning glory in Bangladesh. Wikipedia →

Growing & care

USDA PLANTS · TRY
Size & form
Sources · Size & form
USDA PLANTS — Lifespan
Lifespan
Perennial
In the garden
Vine / climber layer — Sits in the vine of a layered food forest or polyculture.Open guide →
derived roles
Species characteristics from USDA PLANTS (public domain) + TRY (CC BY) — general guidance, not a guarantee for your exact site. Deer "browsing" is documented palatability, not a deer-proof claim.

Wildlife & pollinators

How pollinator value is scored →
❧ Caterpillar hosts ~39 caterpillar species

Ipomoea supports ~39 caterpillar species.

Native butterfly & moth caterpillars are the base of the terrestrial food web — most songbirds rear their young almost entirely on them. As a host for native Lepidoptera this is a strong genus.

Recorded feeding on Ipomoea in North America, including:

Agrius cingulata · Pink-Spotted Hawkmoth Agrotis gladiaria · Swordsman Dart Agrotis ipsilon · Dark Sword-Grass Agrotis subterranea · owlet moth Amorbia emigratella · leafroller moth Athetis miranda · owlet moth
+ 8 more species →
Autographa precationis · Common Looper Bedellia minor Bedellia somnulentella · Convolvulus Leafminer Cosmopterix bendidia · cosmet moth Cosmopterix clemensella · cosmet moth Cosmopterix gemmiferella · cosmet moth Danaus plexippus · Monarch Emmelina monodactyla · plume moth
Keystone count (genus-level) from Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use records. Named species (a documented Nearctic sample, not exhaustive) from NHM HOSTS (CC0).
✦ Bees specialist-bee host

Specialist native bees depend on it.

Some native bees are pollen specialists (oligolectic) — they raise young only on pollen from particular plant genera. Ipomoea is a recorded specialist-bee host, so losing it can mean losing the bee that relies on it.

Xerces pollinator conservation →
Specialist hosts from Smith et al. 2024.
Species thumbnails re-hosted from iNaturalist — Creative Commons, credited per image (hover for credit). Click any species to see it on iNaturalist. Not exhaustive; many taxa have no openly-licensed photo yet.
Sources for this entry (13) Open & cited
[01] Scientific name & family — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[02] Growth habit & duration — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[03] Native status & distribution — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[04] Common name — USDA PLANTS (via GBIF)
[05] Invasive / introduced status — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — native status
[06] Wetland indicator — USACE National Wetland Plant List (2022)
[08] Description — Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
[09] Ecological value — Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts · Smith et al. 2024 (CC BY)
[10] Conservation rank — NatureServe Explorer (CC BY)
[11] Caterpillar host count — Warren II 2026 (Dryad, CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts
[12] Caterpillar species — NHM HOSTS (CC0)
[13] County range — GBIF Open Data — open-licensed occurrences (CC0/CC-BY) → county
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PlantKey’s data is open under CC BY-SA 4.0 — free to reuse and adapt, with attribution and the same licence. Photos keep their own per-image licence + credit (see Sources above).

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