THE BINDWEED. 339 



desert, as the 0. armdlus; and, besides the large 

 white convolvulus, the gardens of Cairo abound in 

 the rich blue and red-striped G. Ca'iricus, known 

 there as Sit-el-hosn, "the beautiful lady/' and Sherk- 

 felek, or "rainbow;" but this last is properly the 

 passion-flower. 



Almost the whole of the convolvulus tribe possess 

 medicinal powers of high order; as, for instance, 

 the G. scammonia, and the Exogonium purga (Ipo- 

 mcea purga, or Convolvulus jalapa), which, respec- 

 tively, yield scammony and jalap. Some are stimu- 

 lant as the G.floridus, and scopdrius, andlpomcea 

 quamodit; while others do not contain sufficient of 

 the acrid juice belonging to the order, to prevent 

 their use as a common article of food. This is 

 more especially observable in the G. batata, or sweet 

 potato, and the G. edulis, which are both wholesome. 

 In every case it is the root of the convolvulus which 

 is used, whether for food or medicine. 



Correctly speaking, we have but one British species 

 of convolvulus ; the small-bindweed (G. arvensis; 

 see plate), which is remarkable for the sweetness of 

 its scent; but as the Calystegias form a very artifi- 

 cial genus, being distinguished from the true con- 

 volvulus only by the presence of bracteas, and by 

 the capsule being one-celled; and as, moreover, they 

 have only recently been separated from the convol- 

 vulus being still retained under that head in some 

 of the most valuable of our standard works I shall 

 follow this example ; feeling that to call the great- 

 bindweed (Galystegia [Convolvulus] sepium) "by 

 any other name" than convolvulus, would be 



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