Convolvulus coelesyriacus Boiss., Diagn. Pl. Orient. ser. 1, 11: 85. 1849. (Boissier 1849: 85).

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 : 62

18. Convolvulus coelesyriacus Boiss., Diagn. Pl. Orient. ser. 1, 11: 85. 1849. (Boissier 1849: 85). Figure 5, t. 14-22.

Convolvulus sintenisii Boiss., Fl. Orient., Suppl. 349. 1888. ( Boissier 1888: 349). Type. CYPRUS, Sintenis & Rigo 55 (holotype G; isotype W!).

Type.

LEBANON, between Hasbey and Rasheiya, Boissier s.n. (holotype G, n.v).

Description.

Annual herb, mostly branched at base, with decumbent or ascending stems to c. 30 cm, vegetative parts thinly pubescent. Leaves petiolate, 2-4(-5) × 1.5-3 cm, ovate or reniform, apex rounded, margin entire or undulate, base weakly auriculate, cordate and cuneate onto the petiole; petioles up to 10 cm on basal leaves but mostly 2-3 cm on cauline leaves. Flowers solitary, axillary, pedunculate, becoming congested upwards; bracts resembling small leaves, but sometimes deeply palmately lobed with acute lobes; peduncles 0.5-5 cm, elongating and reflexing in fruit; bracteoles 3-4 mm, filiform to linear-lanceolate; pedicels 0.3-1.5 cm; sepals 3-6 × 3-4 mm, broadly oblong-obovate, prominently mucronate, stiffly hirsute with spreading hairs; corolla 1.5-2(-2.8) cm, pink or pinkish purple, unlobed, midpetaline bands pilose; filaments glandular below; ovary glabrous; style glabrous, divided c. 4 mm above base, stigmas c. 1.5 mm. [ Sa’ad 1967: 174; Feinbrun-Dothan 1978: plate 57; Tohmé and Tohmé 2007: 214 (photo); Meikle 1985: 1173]

Distribution.

Eastern Mediterranean, apparently especially common in Cyprus: Cyprus (Davis 2979, 3033); Turkey; Syria (Hasbani 464, Barbey 612); Lebanon (Polunin 5208, Gombault 4497, 4499); Palestine/Israel (Davis 4214, 4500, Eig et al. 276).

Notes.

The retuse, strongly apiculate sepals, reflexed fruiting peduncles and annual habit are distinctive.

Species 19-21.

Convolvulus pitardii , Convolvulus glaouorum and Convolvulus vidalii form a complex of species. Convolvulus vidalii is the most restricted in distribution and the best defined. Convolvulus pitardii and Convolvulus glaouorum are more widely distributed, their geographical patterning only partially defined with the former mostly in the Eastern Rif and Middle Atlas while the latter is mostly in the High Atlas. Most specimens are easily assigned to one or other species but further study is needed.