Plant: Annual twining vine; stems twining, glabrous or pilose on the nodes

Leaves: ovate, entire or 3-5-parted or palmately lobed, 1.5-10 cm long, 1-7 cm wide, apically acute to acuminate, rarely obtuse, mucronate, glabrous or pilose below, the margins irregularly dentate, the base cordate to subtruncate, the lobes rounded to acute, the petioles 2-9 cm long

INFLORESCENCE: (1-)3-7-flowered cymes; peduncles 3-6(-25) cm long; bracts linear-lanceolate to ovate, aristate, 1-3.5 mm long

Flowers: pedicels 5-14 mm long, reflexed in fruit; bracteoles ovate to lanceolate, 1-2 mm long; sepals unequal, the outer sepals oblong, 3-3.5 mm long, 2-2.5 mm wide, obtuse and rounded to truncate apically, muricate or smooth, with a subterminal arista 3-5 mm long, glabrous, the inner sepals oblong 4-5.5 mm long, 3-3.5 mm wide, apically truncate, with a subterminal arista 2.5-3.5 mm long; corollas salverform, 1.8-2.6 cm long, red, red-orange, glabrous, the limb 1-1.5 cm wide; stamens 21-23 mm long, exserted; anthers 1.5 mm long; ovary ovoid, 1 mm long, 4-locular, glabrous; styles 18-20 mm long

Fruit: FRUITS globose, 7-8 mm wide, the apiculum 2 mm long. SEEDS 1-4, 3.5-5 mm long, ovoid, black to dark brown, finely tomentose

Misc: Chaparral, oak woodland, ponderosa pine zones; 750-2750 (2400-9100 ft); May-Nov

Notes: Fruit globoseCorolla plicateLeaves 3-5 lobedplant twining

References: Austin, Daniel F. 1998. J. Ariz. - Nev. Acad. Sci. Convolvulaceae 30(2): 61. Kearney & Peebles; Arizona Flora. ASU specimans

Duration: Annual

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Vine

General: Annual herbaceous vine; stems twining, often growing on other shrubs; herbage mostly glabrous.

Leaves: Alternate along the stems, on slender petioles 2-9 cm long; blades 2-10 cm long and 1-7 cm wide, broadly heart-shaped (common), but can also be ovate or palmately divided into 3-5 lobes; leaf tips acute to acuminate; upper leaf surface bright green and lower surface glabrous to pilose.

Flowers: Showy and bright red, in clusters of 3-7 flowers on long peduncles (3-20 cm long) from leaf axils; sepals 5, unequal in length, 3-5 mm long, often tipped with a green spreading awn 3-5 mm long; corolla red to red-orange, trumpet-shaped, about 2 cm long with a long narrow throat and short, abruptly spreading limb, the limb 1 cm or more wide.

Fruits: Capsules 7-8 mm wide, globose with a short, pointed tip to 2 mm long; containing 1-4 seeds, these ovoid, black or dark brown, and finely tomentose.

Ecology: Found in disturbed areas, roadsides, chapparal, oak woodlands, and pine forests, from 2,500-9,000 ft (762-2743 m); flowers May-November.

Distribution: MN, IA, south to TX and west to AZ; south to s MEX.

Notes: Distinguished from other regional Ipomoea spp. by being hairless on leaves and stems (sometimes hairs on nodes or undersides of leaves); having variable-shaped leaves, often with divided and entire leaves on the same plant; hairless sepals; and especially the red, trumpet-shaped flowers. There is a long history of mis-naming this species as Ipomoea coccinea.

Ethnobotany: Unknown, but other species in the genus have uses.

Editor: LCrumbacher 2011, FSCoburn 2015, AHazelton 2017