CONVOLVULUS. 199 



Scar, a famous botanical haunt near Topcliff. We also have it 

 from Malham Cove, another Yorkshire habitat. The large blue 

 flowers are arranged in a panicle ; the corolla is five-cleft, and 

 the stamens five ; the leaves are lance-shaped and pinnate. It 

 is a common flower in gardens, and attains a greater height 

 there than when growing wild. 



The Convolvulus tribe is the next upon the list. It contains 

 two families that of the Convolvulus and that of the Dodder. 



The common Small Convolvulus (Convolvulus arvensis), is 

 found everywhere, and is everywhere worthy of admiration. It 

 twines up the stalks of corn, round any erect plant ; and, devoid 

 of support, it will creep along a hedgebank, or even over a 

 heap of stones. Its flowers are rose-coloured, and very perish- 

 able ; its leaves arrow-shaped. 



The Great Bindweed (C. sepium), is a magnificent climber, 

 hanging its large bells of pure white in every hedgerow. Its 

 leaves are large, of a full green, and heart-shaped. This plant 

 has many of the properties of its brother, the Scammony, which 

 is very much used in medicine. Jalap is also the produce of a 

 member of this family. 



There is a plant of this group, the roots of which are used in 

 the same manner as Potatoes by the Spanish and Portuguese. 

 It was formerly cultivated in England, and called " Sweet 

 Potato;" it is the root spoken of by Shakespeare and other 

 writers of that period. 



The Sea Convolvulus (C. soldanella), the last British member 

 of this family, is a coast plant, one of those which Fanny found 

 growing on the sands at Penzance. It has flowers as large as 

 the Great Bindweed ; but the corolla is angular, not round, and 

 beautifully tinged with pink. The leaves are kidney- shaped, and 

 the stem is procumbent. The plant is small. Before she could 

 get the flowers home they faded, and she had no opportunity of 

 visiting the shores again, as they were proceeding immediately 

 to Helston, However, she found it abundantly on the bar of 

 the Loe Pool, and laid specimens at once into her sketch-book. 



