Ipomoea aquatica Forssk.
Bhaji, Chinese water-spinach, Chinese water-spinach, Chinese waterspinach
Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.
Summary
Ipomoea aquatica, commonly known as water spinach or kangkung, is a semi-aquatic, tropical plant grown as a vegetable for its tender shoots. I. aquatica is generally believed to have been first domesticated in Southeast Asia. It is widely cultivated in Southeast Asia, East Asia, and South Asia. It grows abundantly near waterways and requires little to no care.
Text from Wikipedia, “Ipomoea aquatica”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.
About the genus · Ipomoea
Ipomoea is the largest genus in the plant family Convolvulaceae, with over 600 species. It is a large and diverse group, with common names including morning glory, water Convolvulus or water spinach, sweet potato, bindweed, moonflower, etc. The genus occurs throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the world, and comprises annual and perennial herbaceous plants, lianas, shrubs, and small trees; most of the species are twining climbing plants.
Text from Wikipedia, “Ipomoea”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.
At a glance
Also known as Convolvulus adansonii Desr.; Convolvulus argyi H.Lév.; Convolvulus clappertonii Spreng.; Convolvulus repens Vahl; Convolvulus rostratus Zipp. and 16 more.
Cultivation
Its year Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, April to September at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (2.4 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred.
This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.
The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the year's rain (927 mm of 1278 mm) falls in April to September. The temperature curve is flat, 2.4 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; with a flat temperature curve there is no season to reverse, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.
Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.
Rain Habitat rain 1278 mm a year, wettest August at 186 mm, driest January at 32 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
1278 mm a year at the habitat, 927 mm of it April to September. Wettest month August at 186 mm, driest January at 32 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 701 mm to 2920 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).
CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.
Light Open sky over the habitat: 31 to 37 mol/m²/day.
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Open sky over the habitat: 31 to 37 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 21, the highest 90th-percentile month 45).
CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.
Warmth and air Cold floor 16.2 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 16.2 °C, the absolute minimum 14.0 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 33.5 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 20.3 °C in January (across the envelope cells 12.3 °C to 25.2 °C), warmest day 31.1 °C in April (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 16.2 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).
NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.
Relative humidity at the habitat: 60 to 65% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.
CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.
The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.
Climate across the habitat
Figures by month
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day °C | 29 / 20–33 | 30 / 20–34 | 31 / 23–36 | 31 / 25–38 | 31 / 27–38 | 30 / 27–35 | 30 / 27–32 | 30 / 27–33 | 30 / 27–34 | 30 / 26–36 | 29 / 24–35 | 29 / 21–33 |
| Night °C | 20 / 12–25 | 21 / 14–25 | 23 / 16–25 | 24 / 19–26 | 24 / 20–27 | 24 / 19–27 | 24 / 18–26 | 24 / 19–26 | 23 / 20–25 | 23 / 20–25 | 22 / 17–26 | 20 / 14–25 |
| Rain mm | 32 / 1–365 | 57 / 1–345 | 81 / 4–299 | 95 / 12–224 | 151 / 11–281 | 148 / 2–382 | 169 / 2–406 | 186 / 2–409 | 178 / 9–363 | 84 / 21–311 | 64 / 4–280 | 33 / 1–284 |
| DLI | 33 / 22–39 | 35 / 25–40 | 37 / 29–43 | 37 / 29–45 | 35 / 29–43 | 33 / 27–38 | 33 / 25–37 | 33 / 26–39 | 32 / 28–43 | 32 / 27–45 | 31 / 24–43 | 31 / 21–39 |
| RH % | 62 / 41–67 | 62 / 42–67 | 62 / 42–67 | 61 / 44–68 | 62 / 48–68 | 63 / 49–69 | 64 / 50–68 | 65 / 51–69 | 64 / 53–69 | 63 / 50–68 | 60 / 46–68 | 61 / 43–67 |
Each figure is the median across the 1100 grid cells holding the 1454 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 2301:4539 (-25.075, 46.975). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 14.0 °C, 1st-percentile night 16.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 33.5 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 1100 distinct grid cells holding the 1454 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2301:4539 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -25.00_46.875, lapse-corrected -196 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 22 m (cell mean).
Natural habitat
Photographs
Photographs: (c) Greg Tasney, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (8).
Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.
Papers naming this species
Works whose title or abstract names Ipomoea aquatica, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.
Related
Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.
Combretum indicum Rangoon creeper
Amorphophallus paeoniifolius Elephant foot yam
Momordica charantia Balsam Pear
Enterolobium cyclocarpum Ear tree
Annona squamosa Scopapel
Thalia geniculata Bent Alligator-FlagOther Ipomoea 12 in the reference
Ipomoea alba Lilac Bell
Ipomoea batatas Sweet Potato
Ipomoea cairica Cairo Morning Glory
Ipomoea carnea Gloria De La Manana
Ipomoea indica Oceanblue Morningglory
Ipomoea lobata Exotic Love Vine
Ipomoea murucoides Convolvulaceae
Ipomoea pauciflora tree morning glory
Ipomoea pes-caprae Bayhops
Ipomoea purpurea Annual Morning Glory
Ipomoea tricolor Garden Morning Glory History & registers
Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)wcvp.distribution answeredgbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zamclimate answeredwikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedinat.taxon not askedinat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedinat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)gbif.media answeredopenalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedEvery upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 149 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.








