IPOM2EA.] CONVOLrVLACE^E. 115 



In most parts of the area ; very common in ponds, ditches and in moist 

 ground. Flowers during the cold season. DISTRIB. Throughout 

 India and in Ceylon, extending to China, the Malay Pen., Trop. Africa 

 and N. Australia. The young shoots and roots are eaten as a vegetable 

 and the plant is often cultivated in S. India and Ceylon. The juice, when 

 dried, is used as a purgative. 



8. 1. sepiaria, Kcenig in Roxb. Hort. Beng. 14 ; Fl. Ind. i, 499 ;F. B. I. 



tv, 209 ; Watt E. [).; Prain Peng. PL 736 ; Cooke Ft. Bomb, ii, 246. 



A perennial herb, glabrous or more or less hairy, Stems slender, twining. 

 Leaves 1-3 in. long, ovate, acute, entire, base cordate, with a wide sinus 

 and rounded lobes, petioles 1-2 in. long. Flowers many, in umbelliform 

 lony-peduncled cymes, peduncles 1-6 in. long ; bracts small, caducous, 

 pedicels clavate in fruit. Sepals about i in, long, ovate, glabrous or 

 slightly hairy, margins membranous, 2 outer rather shorter than the 

 inner- Corolla narrowly funnel-shaped pink or white with a purplish 

 centre, about H in. long, or more, limb suddenly widened at the mouth ; 

 lobes acute, shortly apiculate. Filaments hairy at the base. Capsule 

 i in. long, ovoid, glabrous. Seeds 4 or 2, clothed with grey silky hairs. 



Common within the area, and often found in hedges. Flowers Aug. to Oct. 

 DISTKIB. Throughout India and in Ceylon ; also in Malaya, Hainan 

 and Formosa. It is sometimes eaten as a pot-herb. 



9. I. obscura, Ker-Gawl. in Bot. Reg. t, 239 ; ?. B. I. iv, 207 ; Watt E. D.; 

 Prain Beng. PL 736 ; Cooke Fl. Bomb, ii, 24S. Convolvulus obscurus, 

 Linn.; Roxb. Fl. Ind. i, 472. 



Annual. Stems long, slender, twining, glabrous or slightly villous, often 

 tinged with purple. Leaves 1-2| in. long, broadly ovate, cordate, acute 

 or acuminate, entire, thin, glabrous, petioles 1-3 in. long. Peduncles 1 or 

 2-3-flowered, aboiit as long as the leaves, bracts minute, pedicels clavate. 

 Sepals about f in. long, nearly equal, ovate or oblong, subacute or 

 obtuse, minutely verrucose. Corolla funnel-shaped, f-1 in long, yellow, 

 or white with yellow bands, base purple, mouth of limb 1 in. in 

 diam., with shallow lobes. Capsule 2-valved, | in. long, ovoid, subacute, 

 glabrous. Seeds dark -brown, velvety. 



All parts of the area, common. Flowers during the greater part of the 

 year. DISTKIB. Throughout India and in Ceylon, also in Burma and 

 the Andaman s, extending to N. Australia, trop. Africa and the 

 Mascarene Islands. 



10 I. dissecta, Willd. Phytogr. 5, t.2,fig. 3; 'F. B. I.iv,200; Cooke FL 

 Bomb, ii, 249. I. coptica Roth ; Royle III. 307. Convolvulus coptious 

 Linn.- Roxb. Fl. Ind. i, 477. 



A glabrous prostate herb, rarely twining ; branches many, $-2 ft. long, 

 slender, angular. Leaves 1-1 in. in diam , digitate or the upper otten 

 pedate ; lobes 3-7, linear-lanceolate, irregularly serrate ; petioles - in. 

 long, with stipule-like leaves in the axils. Flowers usually solitary, 



