104 COSVOLVULAOE^. [CBESSA. 



the sea, extending to Baluchistan and most warm regions. The Indian 

 plant differs from the commom form of 0. cretica in having the capsule 

 4-seeded. 



5. EVOLVULUS, Linn. ; Fl. Brit. Ind. iv, 220, 



Small usually silky-pubescent prostrate or erect herbs or under- 

 shrubs. Leaves small, entire, often distichous. Flowers small, 

 white blue or pink, solitary in the axils or in few-flowered peduncled 

 cymes. Sepals subequal, not enlarging in fruit. Corolla funnel- 

 shaped or subrotate ; limb plicate, subentire. Stamens included or 

 exserted, filaments slender. Ovary 2- or 1-celled, 4-ovuled ; styles 

 2, distinct from the base, each cleft into 2 linear or subclavate 

 stigmas. Capsule globose, 4- or 2-valved. Seeds 4 or 2, rarely 

 solitary, glabrous, cotyledons twice folded. Species about 70, in 

 tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. 



E. alsinoides. Linn. Roxb. Fl. Ind. ii, 105, F. B. I. iv, 220 ; Watt E. 

 D./ Collett Fl. Siml. 338 ; Prain Beng. PI. 725 ; Cooke Fl. Bomb, ii, 

 229. E. linifolius, Linn. E. angustifolius, Eoxb. II. Ind. ii, 107. E. 

 hirsutus, Lamlc.; Roxb. Fl. Ind. ii, 106. 



A much-branched diffuse perennial herb ; annual branches many, spread- 

 ing from a short woody rootstock, wiry , more or less pilose or some- 

 times almost glabrous. Leaves variable, sessile or nearly so, -1 in. 

 long, lanceolate to ovate, obtuse, mucronate, acute at the base, densely 

 clothed with appressed white or fulvous silky pubescence. Flowers 

 "blue 01 white, on 1-3-flowered filiform peduncles ; bracts small, linear, 

 hirsute, persistent, pedicels filiform. Calyx densely silky ; segments 

 ^ in. long, i lanceolate, acute. Corolla subrotate, in. long. Capsule 

 $ in. in diam., 4-valved and usually 4-seeded. 



Very common in most parts of the area, epecially on open sandy ground 

 and "by roadsides. Flowers July to November. DISTEIB. Through- 

 out India and in Ceylon, Himalaya up to 6,000 feet ; also found in 

 nearly all tropical and subtropical regions of the world. The commonest 

 Indian form is the type with leaves %-% in. long, oblong or elliptic, 

 moderately silky with white or fulvous hairs. E. linifolius has linear 

 leaves up to 1 in. long. E. hirsutus has thick leaves densely clothed 

 with fulvous or reddish hairs. The plant is used in Ceylon as a bitter 

 tonic and febrifuge. 



6. CALYSTEGIA, E. Br. ; Fl. Brit. Ind. iv, 217. 



Climbing or prostrate herbs, glabrous or nearly so. Leaves entire 

 or lobed. Flowers axillary, solitary, rarely in few-flowered cymes ; 

 bracts 2, large, persistent and enclosing the calyx. Sepals ovate or 



