Convolvulus.] CONVOLVULACE.E. 313 



p. Corolla with a dentate ring of rich purple within towards the base. 



In waste and cultivated ground, cornfields, gardens, on hedgebanks, by way- 

 sides and under walls, &c. ; far too abundantly. Fl. June — September. Fr. 

 October. If. 



p. Along a hedge in Moncllon street, Eyde (flowers the usual rose-colour). 

 Cornfield between Newchnrch and Lower Knighton, in plenty (with the corolla 

 pure white). I find this var. between Quiirr abbey and Fishbouine, and it is pro- 

 bably frequent in other places. Sometimes the ring is very faintly marked. 



Rnot long, extensively creeping (descending remarkably deep, Bab.), pale 

 brown, fleshy. Stems numerous, either trailing on the ground, twining about the 

 stalks of corn, or .scandent in hedgerows, &c., usually about 2 or 3 feet long, when 

 climbing over bushes considerably exceeding those dimensions, twisted, with 4 

 slightly winged angles, branched chiefly at the base, very leafy, a little milky, 

 smooth. Leaves alternate, dull grayish green, scarcely paler beneath, the margins 

 slightly deflexed, somewhat fleshy, more or less downy or quite glabrous, 

 extremely variable in size and shape, mostly oblong-hastate or sagittate, pointed 

 or very obtuse and rounded, the lower leaves usually truncate at the base ; lobes 

 shortish, more or less acute, sometimes obtuse, veiy small and even obsolete, 

 diverging at right angles for the most part or nearly so. Petioles much shorter 

 than the leaves, rounded or semiterete, deeply caniculate above. Flowers deli- 

 cately fragrant, closing in the afternoon or in rainy weather. Peduncles axillary, 

 mostly single, often 2- or sometimes even 3-flowered, occasionally a little branched, 

 slightly enlarged upwards, acutely quadrangular, their summits deflexed in fruit. 

 Calyx very small, as long as the tube of the corolla ; sepals imbricated, broadly 

 oblong-obovate, very obtuse, with a minute brown point, obscurely nerved, the 2 

 exterior shortest, with narrow scariose borders, the 3 interior membranous at the 

 summit and emarginate. Corolla broadly and flatly funnel-shaped, from 1 to If 

 inch wide, somewhat pentagonal, the margins crenulate, extremely variable in 

 colour, of every shade from vivid rose or peach-blossom red to nearly pure white, 

 with 5 tapering plaits or angles of a reddish fawn-colour at the back, the narrower 

 part of the limb white, with 5 or 10 more or less distinct bands or spaces radiating 

 towards the border, often with a zigzag or dentate ring of deep crimson internally 

 a little above the very short yellowish tube. Stamens erect ; filaments tapering, 

 glandulose-pilose below ; anthers sagittate, white, the sutures purplish. Germen 

 conical, bluntly lobed, surrounded by a thick, fleshy and lobed fillet, of an orange- 

 yellow colour. Style long, white, glabrous ; stigmas white, papillose, cylindrical 

 or subclavtrte, mostly curved upwards, spreading or divaricate. Capsule pale 

 whitish brown, glabrous, roundish ovoid, somewhat acute or even acuminate, mu- 

 cronate, faintly 2-, 3-, or 4-lobed, with as many rounded angles, almost perfectly 

 2-celled, the dissepiment stretching quite across and reaching to within a very lit- 

 tle distance from the top. Seeds 2, 3, or 4 (commonly 4), ovoid or subtrigonous, 

 gibbous at the back, deep rust-colour, scabrous* and covered with prominent points. 



The very grateful but somewhat transient fragrance of the flowers, resembling 

 that of almonds, is rarely possessed by other species of this beautiful genus. But 

 not this attraction, superadded to their elegant and often vivid colouring, can 

 reconcile the plant to the eye of the farmer, or cause him to regard it in any other 

 light than as a worthless intruder, mocking his efforts for its extirpation, or derid- 

 ing his sloth negligence or bad management by its specious but profitless luxu- 

 riance. No weed obnoxious to the husbandman maintains its ground more 

 obstinately than this, or requires greater exertion to keep it under, which deep 

 ploughing perhaps alone can efi'ect : to subdue it entirely is almost hopeless, since 

 every inch of the perennial root left in the soil will vegetate afresh ; and even 

 when eradicated from a field an abundant supply is always at hand to creep in, 

 from the adjacent banks or hedgerows, to overrun it anew. In N. Britain its 

 comparative infrequency renders it harmless ; with us its natural prevalence 



* Glabrous, according to Bertoloni, whose description of the capsule is incor- 

 rect in many points. 



2 s 



