Use of aqueous extracts of leaves, stems, and roots of the pernicious aquatic weed ipomoea
(Ipomoea carnea) drawn from different locations was explored in the biomimetic extracellular
synthesis of silver nanoparticles (SNPs). It was found that despite the natural variability in the
chemical content of ipomoea growing in different locations, certain extract–metal stoichiometries
can be identified which give strikingly reproducible results in terms of the size and the shape of
the SNPs. This is one of the first reports of its type in which possible role of natural variability
in the chemical composition of a given botanical species on nanoparticle synthesis involving that
species has been assessed.