Little-bell
Ipomoea triloba
Found in hammocks, sand dunes, disturbed areas. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Not native to Alabama. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 53%
- Light
- Partial shade, Full sun
- Soil moisture
- Dry to moist
No photograph yet. Looking for an old drawing…
At a glance
- Bloom
- January to December
Not yet recorded · Height · Spread · Life cycle · Leaves
This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.
Recorded in 4 Alabama counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Dense, evergreen groves of live oak, magnolia and other hardwoods in the southern Coastal Plain, from dry oak domes to wet hydric hammocks and south Florida's tropical hammocks; salt-shaped maritime hammocks are maritime forests.
Open sand of beaches, dunes and the hollows between them.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Who uses this plant?
49CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including AL
Genus host records with ranges including AL · Ipomoea
- Agrius cingulataPink-Spotted Hawkmoth, Sweet Potatoe Caterpillar
- Agrotis gladiariaSwordsman Dart, Clay-Backed Cut-Worm
- Agrotis ipsilonIpsilon Dart, Black Cutworm, Greasy Cutworm
- Amyna strictaEight-Spot Moth
- Anomis flavaTropical Anomis Moth
- Argyrotaenia ivanaIvana Leafroller Moth
- Autographa precationisCommon Looper Moth
- Chloridea virescensTobacco Budworm Moth
- Chrysodeixis includensSoybean Looper Moth
- Elaphria chalcedoniaChalcedony Midget
Show all 49
- Elophila obliteralisWaterlily Leafcutter Moth
- Emmelina monodactylaMorning-Glory Plume Moth
- Eublemma rectaStraight-Lined Seed Moth
- Euptoieta claudiaVariegated Fritillary, (?)Gulf Fritillary
- Euzophera semifuneralisAmerican Plum Borer
- Feltia herilisMaster's Dart
- Feltia jaculiferaDingy Cutworm
- Feltia subterraneaSubterranean Dart, Granulate Cutworm
- Hahncappsia mancalisCommon Hahncappsia
- Helicoverpa zeaCorn Earworm Moth
- Herpetogramma fluctuosalisGreater Sweetpotato Webworm
- Herpetogramma thestealisZigzag Herpetogramma, Subtle-Feathered Grass Moth
- Hydriris ornatalisOrnate Hydriris
- Hyles lineataWhite-Lined Sphinx
- Hypena scabraGreen Cloverworm Bomolocha, Black Snout
- Lascoria ambigualisAmbiguous Moth, Ambiguous Litter Moth
- Lygropia tripunctataSweet Potato Leaf Roller
- Marimatha nigrofimbriaBlack-Bordered Lemon
- Marimatha tripunctaThree-Spotted Lemon
- Megalopyge opercularisSouthern Flannel Moth, Puss Caterpillar
- Mythimna unipunctaArmyworm Moth, White Speck
- Orgyia leucostigmaWhite-Marked Tussock Moth
- Ostrinia obumbratalisSmartweed Borer
- Papilio troilusSpicebush Swallowtail
- Patania silicalisHerbivorous Patania, Herbivorous Pleuroptya
- Schizura ipomaeaeMorning-Glory Prominent, Checkered-Fringe Prominent
- Spilosoma virginicaVirginian Tiger Moth, Yellow Woolybear Moth, Yellow Bear
- Spodoptera dolichosSweetpotato Armyworm, Dolichos Armyworm, Large Cotton Armyworm
- Spodoptera eridaniaSouthern Armyworm Moth
- Spodoptera frugiperdaFall Armyworm Moth
- Spodoptera latifasciaOrange-Striped Armyworm, Velvet Armyworm Moth
- Spodoptera ornithogalliYellow-Striped Armyworm Moth, Cotton Cutworm
- Spoladea recurvalisHawaiian Beet Webworm
- Spragueia damaSouthern Spragueia
- Udea rubigalisCelery Leaftier
- Vanessa carduiPainted Lady, Cosmopolite
- Cosmopterix astrapias
- Cosmopterix gemmiferella
- Microthyris anormalis
—BeesSoutheastern regional records
3Specialist beesPollen specialists
Pollen specialists · Ipomoea
- Melitoma grisella
- Melitoma marginella
- Melitoma taurea
2BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Ipomoea
- Columbina passerinaCommon Ground Dove
- Cyrtonyx montezumaeMontezuma Quail
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
Plant details
- Family
- Convolvulaceae
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “January to December” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Light · “Partial shade; Full sun (documented habitat)” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Soil · “Dry; Moist (documented habitat)” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
Also known as
Little bell
Conservation status
| Alabama rank | Not available |
|---|---|
| Global rank | GNR |
| AL status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Native alternatives
Find natives for your gardenSources
- Alabama Plant Atlas
- USDA PLANTS
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications