Convolvulus althaeoides L., Sp. Pl. 156. 1753. (Linnaeus 1753: 156).

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 : 65

22. Convolvulus althaeoides L., Sp. Pl. 156. 1753. (Linnaeus 1753: 156). Figure 5, t. 23-30

Type.

Southern Europe, (lectotype LINN 218.26!, designated by Sa’ad 1967: 210).

Description.

Trailing or twining perennial herb with slender creeping rootstock; stems terete, to 2 m long; vegetative parts thinly pilose to densely sericeous-tomentose. Leaves petiolate, strongly dimorphic; lower leaves 2-4 × 1-3 cm, ovate-deltoid, apex apiculate, acute or obtuse, margin irregularly crenate, base cordate and shortly cuneate; upper leaves slightly larger, to 6 × 6 cm, similar in outline but deeply sinuate-lobed to 3-5-partite with narrowly oblong, entire to coarsely dentate segments; petioles 1-5 cm long. Flowers axillary, pedunculate, solitary or in a dichasial cyme with up to 4 flowers; peduncles 3-10 cm; bracteoles 3-12 mm, filiform, linear to narrowly linear-lanceolate; pedicels 5-13 mm; outer sepals 5-9 × 4-6 mm, variable in shape, elliptic to obovate, acute to obtuse, glabrous to hirsute, margin often scarious, undulate, inner sepals slightly broader with broad scarious margins, often basally auriculate; corolla (1.6-)1.8-4.5 cm long (very variable in size), pink (rarely white), very weakly lobed, midpetaline bands darker, shortly pubescent; filaments glandular below; ovary glabrous; style glabrous, divided 5-10 mm above base; stigmas 2. 5-5 mm, relatively stout. Capsule glabrous; seeds glabrous, obscurely tuberculate. [ Sa’ad 1967: 210]

Notes.

A very variable species in indumentum, sepal form and flower size, this reflected in the extensive synonymy below. Two subspecies, sometimes treated as separate species, can usually be distinguished although intermediates occur occasionally, for example Fitz 74/1978 (W) from Tunisia, Dubuis 8549 (BM) from Algeria, Pampanini 3729 (FI), the type of var. angustisectus from Libya or Faure s.n. (MPU) the type of var. dissectus , from Algeria, all of which have the distinct linear leaf lobes of subsp. tenuissimus without the softly sericeous indumentum.