Convolvulus oleifolius Desr., Encycl. [Lamarck et al.] 3: 552. 1792. (Desrousseaux 1792: 552)

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 : 170

157. Convolvulus oleifolius Desr., Encycl. [Lamarck et al.] 3: 552. 1792. (Desrousseaux 1792: 552) Figure 20, t. 43-51

Type.

“Levant”, plant cultivated in Paris (holotype P [Herb. Lam.]).

Description.

60 cm, the old growth woody, young shoots herbaceous, flower-bearing; vegetative parts grey-sericeous. Leaves sessile, (1-)2.5-6 × (0.1-) 0.4-0.8 cm, linear, oblong or oblanceolate, obtuse to acute, entire, the base long-attenuate. Flowers in terminal diachasial clusters, sometimes with single flowers or few-flowered, diachasia borne on peduncles up to 3 cm long from the axils of the uppermost leaves; bracts resembling the leaves but smaller, always linear-oblong; bracteoles 8-10 × 1-1.5 mm, linear; pedicels 0-10 mm; outer sepals 6-9 × 2.5-5 mm, ovate, shortly acuminate to an obtuse apex, villous; inner sepals broader with scarious margins; corolla 2-2.5 cm long, pink, very shallowly lobed, the midpetaline bands appressed pilose, brown, terminating in a tooth; ovary pilose, style pilose, divided c. 3 mm above base, the stigmas 5 mm. Capsule pilose; seeds, densely pubescent. [ Sa’ad 1967: 131; Meikle 1985: 1167, 1169 (plate); Pignatti 1982: 387; Strid and Strid 2009: 402-403 (plate)]

Notes.

Convolvulus oleifolius is a variable species and we recognise three varieties: