236. CONVOLVULACE^. [Coiivolmlacea. 



Stigma sessile. Tall woody evergreen climbers. Fruit a berry . . 1. Erycibe. 

 Style filiform, entire or bifid at the top. 



Stigma capitate or with 2 short round lobes. 



Fruit a berry. Tall woody twiners . . . 2. Argyreia. 



Fruit a dry capside. Herbs prostrate or twining 3. Ipom^a. 



Stigmatic lobes flattened, oblong or linear 4. Jacquemontia. 



Styles 2, distinct. 

 Stems leafy. 



Styles bifid. Ovary 2-celled. Stems erect or diffuse .... 5. Evolvulus. 

 Styles entire. Carpels 2, distinct. Stems prostrate or creeping 6. Dichondra. 

 Leafless parasites, not green. Stems filiform 7- Cuscuta. 



1. ERYCIBE, Roxb. 



Corolla broadly campanulate or almost rotate, with a veiy short tube and 

 5 deeply bifid lobes. Ovary 1-celled, with 4 erect ovules. Stigma sessile, 

 thick, readily divisible into 2, but marked outside with 5 or 10 angles or fur- 

 rows (the result of the impression of the folds of the corolla or of the stamens 

 in the bud). Fruit an indehiscent beny, containing usually a single seed. 

 Cotyledons folded. — Tall w^oody climbers. Leaves entire, coriaceous, usually 

 glabrous. Flowers not large, in cymes or clusters, usually forming axillary or 

 terminal racemes or panicles. 



A small genus, confined to tropical Asia. 



1. E. obtusifolia, Benth , n.sp. Probably a tall woody climber like the 

 other species, although the specimens show^ no appearance of twining. Branches 

 glabrous. Beaves oblong, obtuse, 3 to 4 in. long, naiTowed at the base, with 

 a petiole of 4 to 6 lines, coriaceous and shining, never acuminate as in E. pani- 

 culata and E. glaucesce^is. Cymes few on short peduncles in the lower axils, 

 more numerous in the upper ones ; but the racemes are in all the specimens 

 shorter than the leaves, not forming large terminal panicles as in E. pa- 

 niculata. Sepals orbicular, a little more than a line long, haiiy outside. 

 Corolla about 3 lines long ; the part exposed in the bud very hairy outside, 

 the rest glabrous. Berry ovoid, above ^ in. long. — E. glaucescens, Hook, and 

 Arn. Bot. Beech. 201 ; not of Wallich. 



Hongkong, Champion. Also on the adjacent continent, but not known out of S. China. 

 The E. glaucescens, Wall., to which these specimens have been referred, does not appear to 

 be specifically distinct from the common Indian E. paniculata. 



2. ARGYREIA, Lour. 



Corolla either narrow -campanulate or almost funnel-shaped, and entii'e or 

 angular or else deeply lobed and almost rotate. Ovary 2-celled, with 2 ovules 

 in each cell, or 4-celled by the addition of a spurious partition between the 

 ovules. Style filiform. Stigma capitate, entire or with 2 short round lobes. 

 Fruit succulent and indehiscent. Seeds 4 or fewer; cotyledons folded. — 

 Tall, usually woody twiners. Leaves entii*e or rarely lobed, usually haiiy or 

 silvery white underneath. Cymes in the upper axils, or forming terminal leafy 

 panicles. Flowers usually large and showy. 



A tro])ical genus, chiefly Asiatic, but with a few African or American species. It only 

 diff'ers from Iponura in the succulent fruit, for the habit, although general, is not constant. 



1. A. Chaxnpioni, Benlh., u. up. Young branches, and under side of the 



