Convolvulus
(from convolvo, to entwine; referring to the twining habit of most of the species). Bindweed. ORD. Convolvulaceae. A genus comprising about 150 species of annual or perennial, prostrate, twining or erect herbs or sub-shrubs, distributed throughout all temperate and subtropical parts of the world; the Mediterranean region, however, is the head-quarters of the genus. Corolla funnel-shaped or campanulate. Leaves alternate, entire, dentate, or lobed, lanceolate, often cordate or sagittate. They are, for the most part, very handsome plants, when in full blossom. All are of very simple culture. The tender species do best in a compost of peat, leaf soil, and loam, and are usually propagated by cuttings--sometimes by seeds--in spring. The hardy annuals should be sown in spring, in the open border. The hardy perennials may be increased by young cuttings; by division of the roots; or by seeds, sown in spring.
C. althaeoides (Althaea-like).* fl., corolla pale red or lilac, large, spreading, entire; peduncles usually one-flowered; sepals ovate, acute. June. l. shining, silvery; lower ones cordate, deeply crenated; superior ones pedatifid; middle one long, pinnatifid. South Europe, 1597. Hardy deciduous perennial. (S. F. G. 194.) C. arvensis (field). Small Bindweed. fl. white or pink, 1in. in diameter; peduncles axillary, usually two-flowered, with two small bracts at their fork, and a third on one of the pedicels, at some distance from the flower; sepals small, broad. June to September. l. 1in. to 3in. long, very variable, apiculate; lobes acute. Stems numerous, trailing or twining, slender. Europe, and Central and Russian Asia, except the extreme north; common, and often a troublesome weed, in England and Ireland, and local in Scotland. A charming little plant for hanging baskets.
C. bonariensis (Buenos Ayres). fl., corolla white, variegated with red veins, small; peduncles generally three-flowered, shorter than the leaves. July. l. hastate, cuneated at the base, each terminating in a bristle, petiolate; middle lobe linear, 2in. long, obtuse, two lines broad; lateral ones very short. Chili, 1817. Hardy deciduous.
C. bryoniaefolius (Bryony-leaved). A synonym of C. italicus. C. canariensis (Canary Islands). fl., corolla purplish-violet, hairy outside, at length almost flat; peduncles many-flowered, longer than the petioles; calyx villous. June to September. l. cordate, oblong, acute, downy. Stem terete, villous. Canary Islands, 1690. Half-hardy evergreen. (B. M. 1228.) C. cantabricus (Cantabrian).* fl., corolla pale red; peduncles usually two to three-flowered; sepals narrow, very villous. August. l. oblong-lanceolate, acute. Plant beset with spreading hairs. Stem branched, prostrate. h. 6in. to 1ft. South Europe, 1680. Hardy deciduous.
C. chinensis (Chinese).* fl. at the upper part of the stem, axillary, solitary, pointing one way; corolla rotately funnel-shaped; peduncles spreading; calyx greenish, much shorter than the corolla; limb large, purplish-crimson, marked in the disk with an unequally-pointed pale yellow star, surrounded by a purple halo. l. firm, sub-coriaceous, greyish-green, hastate; middle lobe elongated, oblong, somewhat tapered, blunt, with a small point; side ones divaricate, short, quite entire; petioles linear, channelled. h. 2ft. to 3ft. Root creeping. China. Hardy perennial. The flower expands during the night, or early in the morning, and fades in the forenoon. (B. R. 322.) C. Cneorum (Cneorum).* fl. capitate, on short peduncles; corolla light pink, hairy outside; some of the bracts as large as the leaves, hairy. May. l. lanceolate, clothed with silvery-silky tomentum. Stem branched. h. 1ft. to 3ft. South Europe, 1640. Half-hardy shrub. (B. M. 459.) C. elongatus (trailing). fl. white, small; corolla sub-rotate, rather deeply five-lobed; peduncles axillary, solitary, filiform, tomentosely villous, one to two-flowered; calyx funnel-shaped, green; lobes rounded, slightly furred on the outside. July, August. l. alternate, wide asunder, cordate, taper-pointed, thin, lively green, about 1 1/2in. in length and 1in. across, beset with white atomous dots, and bare on the upper side, slightly furred on the under; petioles round, many times shorter than the leaf. Canary Islands, 1815. Hardy annual. (B. R. 498.) C. erubescens (erubescent).* fl. reddish-pink, small; peduncles one to three-flowered, shorter than the leaves; sepals equal, ovate, mucronulate, spreading. July to September. l. hastat; hind lobes toothed or cut; intermediate one lanceolate or linear, toothed or quite entire. Plant rather pilose. Australia, 1803. Greenhouse biennial. (B. M. 1067.) C. Herrmanniae (Herrmann's). fl., corolla white, small; limb crenulated, acute; sepals ovate, acuminated, downy, nearly equal; peduncles two-flowered, longer than the petioles. August. l. oblong-lanceolate, cordately sagittate at the base, obtuse, mucronate, crenately repand. Plant tomentose, white. h. 5ft. Peru, 1799. Greenhouse evergreen.
C. italicus (Italian). fl., corolla reddish-purple, large; peduncles long, one-flowered, articulated; sepals ovate, acute. July. l., lower ones cordate, obtuse, crenated or toothed; upper ones somewhat palmately seven-lobed; middle ones long, toothed, or lobed. Plant rather hispid, green. China, 1802. Half-hardy evergreen. SYN. C. bryoniaefolius. (B. R. 1847, xii.) C. lanuginosus (woolly). fl., corolla yellowish, with a lanceolate purple ray on the outside of each lobe, clothed with yellowish hairs; peduncles three-flowered, pilose; the three outer sepals very hairy, ovate, acuminated. July. l. shortly petiolate, cordate-oblong, somewhat hastate, clothed with very soft, rusty, silky tomentum. Levant, 1816. Hardy deciduous. C. lineatus (lined).* fl., corolla pale reddish-purple, hairy outside; sepals rather foliaceous, silky; peduncles one to tow-flowered, shorter than the leaves. June. l. lanceolate, petiolate, acute, silky, villous, lined. Floriferous stems erect, simple, corymbose at top. h. 6in. South Europe, 1770. Hardy deciduous.
C. major. The very common annual known by this name is Ipomoea purpurea (which see).
C. mauritanicus (Mediterranean).* fl., blue, with a white throat and yellow anthers, small, about 1in. across; calyx villous, with five linear divisions, two of which are rather smaller than the others; peduncles one, two, or three-flowered. Summer. l. nearly ovate, alternate, in two rows, on very short petioles. North Africa. Plant covered with minute soft white hairs. Greenhouse (or quite hardy in many places) prostrate twining perennial, very useful for baskets. (F. d. S. 2185.) C. ocellatus (eyed).* fl., corolla white, with a deep red-purple eye; scarcely 1in. in diameter, with a short tube, a little longer than the calyx, which gradually expands into a spreading five-angled limb; peduncles rising from the axils of the leaves; calyx of five ovate, acuminated sepals, of which the three outer are more or less silky on the back; stamens five, within the tubular part of the corolla. August. l. sessile, linear, rather acute, entire, one-nerved, clothed on both sides, but especially beneath, with appressed, silky, white hairs. South Africa. A very neat, Evolvulus-like species. (B. M. 4065.) C. pannifolius (cloth-leaved).* fl., corolla of a pale violet-purple, white in the disk and tube, marked with five deeper stellate folds, which are roughly pubescent on their under side; peduncles solitary, axillary, longer than the leaf, filiform, and rather hard, divided upwards into cymes of three to twenty flowers; calyx several times shorter than the corolla, pubescent; tube shorter than the calyx. l. oblong-cordate, reticulately veined and wrinkled underneath, with many pale varicose nerves; petioles shaggy. The native habitat of this species is doubtful, but, in all probability, it is from the Canary Islands. A twining greenhouse shrub, well adapted for conservatory decoration. (B. R. 222.) C. pentapetaloides (five-petaled-like). fl., corolla bluish, small, with a yellow throat, and a semi five-cleft limb; peduncles short, one-flowered. June. l., lower ones petiolate, spathulate-lanceolate, obtuse, nearly naked, lined, ciliated; upper ones linear-cuneiform, sessile. Plant prostrate, creeping, filiform. Stem rather hairy at top. h. 6in. South Europe, 1789. Hardy annual. (S. F. G. 197.) C. persicus (Persian). fl., corolla white; sepals ovate, inner ones smaller; peduncles one-flowered, length of leaves. June. l. oval, obtuse, on very short petioles. h. 1ft. Persia, 1829. Hardy deciduous.
C. Scammonia.* Scammony. fl., corolla cream-coloured, or very pale red, large, campanulate; sepals loose, glabrous, ovate, repand, obtuse, point reflexed; peduncles generally three-flowered, longer than the leaves. July. l. cordate-sagittate, truncate behind. Stem angular. Levant, 1726. Plant glabrous. Hardy deciduous. A gum-resin is obtained from the roots of this species which is largely used in medicine as a purgative. C. scoparius (Broom-like). fl., corolla white, hairy outside; peduncles generally three-flowered; calyx silky; sepals ovate, acute. August and September. l. linear and rather pilose. Stem terete, glabrous. Teneriffe, 1733. Shrub. The wood of this species is hard and white, with radiating stripes. (B. R. 1841, 43.) C. suffruticosus (sub-shrubby). fl., inflorescence on three-flowered peduncles, sometimes sub-divided, and with more flowers, shorter than the leaf; corolla white, with a yellow disk and five purple lines answering to the same number of broader villous ones on the outside, flatly expanded down to the short tube within the calyx; calyx three times shorter than the flower, spreading above the middle, where the leaflets are broad and ciliate. June and July. l. deep green, elongatedly cordate, tapered to a point, slightly pubescent on both sides, on the upper appressedly so; petioles scarcely one-third as long. h. 3ft. to 4ft. Madeira, 1788. A slender twining shrub. (B. R. 133, plate numbered 132.) C. tricolor (three-coloured).* The Dwarf Convolvulus of gardens. fl., corolla rather large, with a yellowish throat, a blue limb, the rest white; sepals ovate-lanceolate, acute; peduncles one-flowered, bibracteate, longer than the leaves. July to September. l. ovate-lanceolate, or spathulate, hairy, ciliated. Stem declinate, terete, beset with small, soft, white hairs. h. 1ft. Sicily, Spain, and Portugal, 1629. (B. M. 27.) Of this very popular hardy annual there are several varieties. differing principally in the colour of the flowers.