Common Name: water-spinach
Family: Convolvulaceae
Common Synonyms: none
USDA Hardiness Zone: 7a - 11
Growth Habit: Herbaceous aquatic vine
Origin: Central to south China
FISC Category: 1
FDACS Listed Noxious Weed: Yes
Introduction Date: pre-1950
IFAS Assessment:
Herbaceous, aquatic vine with milky sap. Stalked leaves alternate, arrowhead shaped. Showy tubular flowers, white, to 5 cm. Fruit an oval woody capsule, 1 cm wide with 1-4 grayish seeds.
Shallow water in ponds, lakes and rivers
Cultivated for edible greens. Forms dense floating mats that shade out submersed plants. Federal Noxious Weed.
**Follow herbicide labels: Only herbicides registered for application in water by EPA and FDACS may be applied to weeds growing in or near water.
Dave's Garden. 2013. PlantFiles: Chinese water spinach, swamp cabbage, swamp morning glory, Ipomoea aquatica. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1263/. Accessed on December 10, 2013.
IFAS, Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants. 2013. Water spinach. http://plants.ifas.ufl.edu/node/201. Accessed on December 10, 2013.
ISSG. 2013. Global Invasive Species Database: Ipomoea aquatica. http://www.issg.org/database/species/management_info.asp?si=477&fr=1&sts=tss&lang=EN. Accessed on December 3, 2013.
Langeland, K.A., H.M. Cherry, C.M. McCormick, K.C. Burks. 2008. Identification and Biology of Non-Native Plants in Florida's Natural Areas-Second Edition. IFAS Publication SP 257. University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.