CONVOLVULUS DORYCNIUM

Family:- CONVOLVULACEAE

Common Names:- None

Synonyms:- None

Meaning:- Convolvulus (L) Entwined. A name used by the Roman naturalist and

philosopher Pliny.

. Dorycnium (Gr) A name used by the Greek physician and botanist

Dioscorides for convolvulus.

General description:- Erect to spreading, densely pubescent, silvery subshrub,

becoming woody below.

Stems:-

1) 50-100 cm; mature stems and branches woody.

Leaves:-

1) Small, sessile or gradually tapered into a petiole, narrow lanceloate-spatulate.

Flowers:-

1) Corolla pink, 20-25 mm, in branched inflorescences but solitary or few at each

branch-tip.

2) Sepals obtuse to distinctly emarginate, apiculate.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule usually 4-seeded, 1- to 2-celled.

2) Pollen grains tricolpate; exine not spinose.

Key features:-

1) Leaves sessile or gradually tapered into a petiole.

2) Mature stems woody and divaricate throughout.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Roadsides, sandy coastal habitats, rocky slopes with open dry shrubby

vegetation, fallow fields. 0-500(-1300) m.

Distribution:- S Greece, Crete, Aegean Is., Tunisia and E Mediterranean, including

Cyprus. Limited distribution across Crete mainly around coastal areas.

Flowering time:- May-July.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton