Home » Plants » Ipomoea coccinea

Redstar (Ipomoea coccinea L.)

Also known as Mexican morning glory, Mexican morning-glory, red morning glory, red morning-glory.

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Summary
Range
Description
Similar Plants
Habitat
Fauna
Links
Photos

Photo © Michael Ellis, CC BY 4.0.

↑Summary

An annual vine native to northern Mexico, which has expanded its range northeast into much of eastern North America.

↑Range - Expand

Legend	Color
Introduced
Introduced or Not Present

This tentative map is based on our own research. It may have limited data on Canada and/or Mexico, and there is some subjectivity in our assignment of plants as introduced vs. expanded. Read more in this blog post.

Although this plant occurs somewhere in each of these regions, it may only occur in a small part of some or all of them.

↑Description & Identification

An annual vine that climbs by twining around supporting vegetation or other structures. Leaf shape is highly variable, often heart-shaped but also often variably-lobed, sometimes with abrupt corners, particularly near the base of the leaf, which usually extends well behind the point of attachment to the stem.

Flowers are deep orangish-red, with an orangeish-yellow center and accents, trumpet-shaped, consisting of five fused petals, coming to neat angles creating a neat pentagonal shape.

↑Similar Plants

Scarlet Creeper (Ipomoea hederifolia)
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↑Habitat

In North America, mostly found in anthropogenic habiats, including along roads, railroads, fencerows, old fields, and industrial areas.

↑Faunal Associations

The bright red, trumpet-shaped flowers attract hummingbirds, and are also visited by some butterflies.

There are numerous insects, including several beetles and moths, that feed broadly on plants of the Ipomoea genus; as there are many native species in this genus throughout North America, these insects are found throughout much of this species' introduced range as well.