166 CONVOLVULUS ITALICUS. 



several ornamental subjects, combining showy flowers, with foliage remarkable 

 for its elegance, of which the C. althceoides and the C. Italicus, figured in our 

 plate, may be taken as the type. 



The four genera, Calystegia, Convolvulus, Ipomtca, and Pharbitis, by which 

 the Order is chiefly represented in the open garden, resemble each other in 

 their general aspect so closely, that it may perhaps be worth while, before 

 referring more especially to our illustration, to point out the chief distinctions 

 between them. They all agree in possessing the five-cleft imbricated calyx, 

 with segments of unequal size, and the funnel-shaped corolla in one piece, 

 plaited and twisted spirally before expansion, which are so characteristic of this 

 tribe ; but differ in the presence or absence of bracts below the calyx, the 

 character of the stigmas, and the number of cells into which the seed vessel 

 is divided. In Calystegia — of which the common Bindweed of the hedges offers 

 a ready example — the true calyx is concealed by two large heart-shaped bracts, 

 which in the genus Convolvulus are either entirely absent, or comparatively 

 minute, and placed at some distance below the flower. These two genera are 

 further distinguished by their ripe capsule ; that of the former is one-celled, 

 whilst in the latter the divisions are two in number ; in both the stigmas are 

 more or less linear. In Ipomma and Pharlitis the calyx is generally destitute 

 of bracts ; the stamens are of unequal length, and the style is terminated in 

 the first -named genus by two, and in the latter by three or even four stigmas, 

 of a rounded granular form, the cells of the ovary in each genus corresponding 

 in number with the stigmas, and each containing two seeds. By the character 

 of their stigmas alone these two genera are readily known from the preceding 

 ones, and by the number of the stigmatic lobes they are as easily distinguished, 

 from each other. The genus Pharbitis is of comparatively recent formation, 

 having been separated from the Tpomseas on the grounds stated ; but some of 

 the species included in it are still popularly designated as such, as in the case 

 of the Major Convolvulus, which, although a true Pharbitis, retains in most 

 catalogues its Linnasan name of Iponwa purpurea. 



The Convolvulus Italicus — the more immediate object of these remarks — is a 

 herbaceous perennial twiner, of somewhat dwarf habit, not often exceeding, as 

 far as our experience of the plant goes, two-and-a-half or three feet. The leaves 

 vary considerably in their form ; near the root they are almost entire at their edge, 

 but higher up present a lobed character, especially at the extremity of the shoots. 

 They are slightly pubescent, but quite devoid of the silkiness present in those 

 of C. altJueoides, to which this species is allied. The flowers are produced singly, 

 from the axils of the upper leaves, on stalks from an inch to an inch-and-half in 

 length; they are of a deep rose colour, and very handsome, and on strong, 

 established plants are developed in considerable numbers through the months of 



