Convolvulus hildebrandtii Vatke, Linnaea 43: 519. 1882. (Vatke 1882: 519).

Wood, John R. I., Williams, Bethany R. M., Mitchell, Thomas C., Carine, Mark A., Harris, David J. & Scotland, Robert W., 2015, A foundation monograph of Convolvulus L. (Convolvulaceae), PhytoKeys 51, pp. 1-282 : 141

117. Convolvulus hildebrandtii Vatke, Linnaea 43: 519. 1882. (Vatke 1882: 519).

Convolvulus filipes Balf.f., Proc. Roy. Soc. Edinburgh 12: 82. 1884. ( Balfour 1884: 82). Type. SOCOTRA, Balfour et al. 238 (lectotype K!, designated here).

Type.

SOMALIA, Wodderi, Hildebrandt 884 (holotype B†; isotype BM001050393!).

Description.

Perennial herb, base woody, stems erect, to 70 cm, more or less herbaceous to somewhat woody and fastiagiate, pilose below with hairs up to 3 mm long, becoming strigose upwards, glabrescent when old and woody. Leaves crowded towards the base of the stem, diminishing in size upwards, 1-4 × 0.2-0.4 cm, oblanceolate, acute, gradually narrowed into a long petiole-like base, long-pilose, often absent; stem leaves 1-2.8 × 0.1-0.2 cm, diminishing in size upwards, all linear to very narrowly linear-oblanceolate, apparently caducous. Inflorescence a large, lax terminal thyrse up to 30 cm long, formed of dichasial cymes bearing up to 3 flowers each but commonly reduced to single flowers; bracts on main axis 5-7 mm, linear; peduncles 0.6-6 cm long, becoming shorter on the secondary and tertiary flowers, often single-flowered; bracteoles 1 mm, linear; pedicels 2-4 mm long; outer sepals 2.5-3.5 × 1.5 mm, ovate, acuminate, somehat scarious but with green midrib, inner sepals narrower, strigose; corolla 8-9 mm long, white, weakly lobed, midpetaline bands strigose; ovary 2 mm long, glabrous (Hildebrandt 884, Balfour et al. 116 or thinly pilose (Miller et al. 19120); style glabrous, divided c. 2 mm above base; stigmas c. 3 mm. Capsule glabrous or with a few apical hairs; seeds glabrous to pubescent. [ Miller and Morris 2004: 517; Thulin 2006: 234]

Distribution.

Somalia (type only); Socotra (Balfour et al. 116, Gwynne 19, Thulin & Gifri 8814 & 8516, Miller et al. 10181 & 19120).

Notes.

The capsule is only 2.5 mm wide, not 5 mm as described by Thulin (2006).

We agree with Vierhapper (1907) and Miller and Morris (2004) in uniting Convolvulus filipes with Convolvulus hildebrandtii rather than with Thulin (2006) who kept the two species separate. The striking differences between specimens in stem, leaf, ovary and seed indumentum do not correlate well each other or with geographical distribution.