Convolvulus

Linnaeus

Sp. Pl. 1: 153. 1753.

Common names: Bindweed
Etymology: Latin convolvo, to entwine, alluding to twining habit of most species
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 14.

Annuals or perennials [shrubs], sometimes rhizomatous. Stems usually decumbent to procum­bent, sometimes ascending, erect, or trailing, seldom twining-climbing, glabrous or hairy, hairs not branched, glandular, or stellate. Leaves usually petiolate, rarely sessile; blade deltate-ovate, oblong, oblanceolate, oblong-elliptic, elliptic, linear, ovate, ovate-lanceolate, ovate-deltate, triangular-lanceolate, or deltate, 10–100 mm, surfaces glabrous or hairy. Inflorescences: flowers 2–5+ per peduncle [heads] or solitary; pedicels 10–30 mm; bracts scalelike, lanceolate, lance-linear, elliptic, linear, obovate, ovate, spatulate, or subulate. Flowers: sepals elliptic, oblong, oblong-ovate, obovate, ovate, or suborbiculate, 3–12 mm; corolla usually pink or white, sometimes tinged or striped with blue or pink, center sometimes purplish to reddish, campanulate to ± rotate, (4–)12–30 mm, limb 5-angled to 5-lobed; ovary 2-locular; style 1; stigmas or stigma lobes 2, cylindric, linear, or spatulate, apices acute. Fruits capsular, ± globose, ovoid, or conic-ovoid, dehiscence valvate. Seeds 1–4, trigonous or rounded, glabrous, surfaces granulate, papillulate, smooth, or tuberculate. x = 12.

Distribution

North America, Mexico, South America, Eurasia, Africa, Atlantic Islands (Canary Islands), Australia, introduced in Pacific Islands (Hawaii).

Discussion

Species 190 (4 in the flora).

Convolvulus althaeoides Linnaeus (collected in California in 1941, 1942, and 1950), C. cneorum Linnaeus, C. sabatius Viviani var. mauritanicus (Bossier) Sa’ad (cultivated as C. mauritanicus Boissier), and C. tricolor Linnaeus are widely cultivated; none of them is known to be established or recurrent in the flora area.

Selected References

None.

Key

1 Annuals; corollas 4–6 mm, limb 5-lobed. Convolvulus simulans
1 Perennials; corollas 11–30 mm, limb 5-angled. > 2
2 Sepals 3–4.5 mm. Convolvulus arvensis
2 Sepals 6–12 mm. > 3
3 Flowers 1(–3) per peduncle; sepals oblong to ovate, 6–12 mm; corollas (15–)25–30 mm. Convolvulus equitans
3 Flowers (1–)3–5+ per peduncle; sepals ± elliptic, 6–7 mm; corollas 11–15(–18) mm. Convolvulus crenatifolius
... more about "Convolvulus"
Daniel F. Austin† +
Linnaeus +
Bindweed +
North America +, Mexico +, South America +, Eurasia +, Africa +, Atlantic Islands (Canary Islands) +, Australia +  and introduced in Pacific Islands (Hawaii). +
Latin convolvo, to entwine, alluding to twining habit of most species +
Convolvulus +
Convolvulaceae +