Convolvulus malabaricus Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 155. 1753; C. bicolor Vahl; C. bracteatus Vahl; C. scandens Milne; C. sublobatus Linnaeus f.; Hewittia bicolor (Vahl) Wight & Arnott; H. scandens (Milne) Mabberley; H. sublobata (Linnaeus f.) Kuntze; Shutereia bicolor (Vahl) Choisy; S. sublobata (Linnaeus f.) House.

Herbs perennial. Stems herbaceous; axial parts ± densely pubescent, twining or prostrate, 1-2 m, occasionally rooting at nodes. Petiole 1-6 cm; leaf blade ovate, 3-10 X 3-8 cm, appressed pilose or subglabrous, sometimes yellow glandular ?dotted, margin ciliate, base cordate, hastate, or truncate, margin entire or 3-lobed, apex acuminate, acute, or mucronate. Inflorescences often 1-flowered; peduncle 1.5-10 cm; bracts oblong-lanceolate, 0.7-1.5 cm, pubescent, acuminate. Pedicel 2-4 mm. Sepals unequal, pubescent abaxially; outer 3 broadly ovate, 0.9-1.5 cm X 6-9 mm, to 1.7 cm in fruit; inner 2 oblong-lanceolate, smaller. Corolla pale yellow or whitish, with a purple center, 2-2.5 cm, midpetaline bands densely pilose. Stamens ca. 9 mm; filaments minutely papillate basally; anthers ovoid-deltoid. Ovary villous. Capsule enclosed by persistent calyx, depressed globose, 8-10 mm in diam., pilose. Seeds dull black, ovoid-trigonous, 4-6 mm, glabrous except for pubescent hilum. Fl. and fr. year round. 2n = 30.

Sunny places in thickets, roadsides, forest clearings, river banks, plantations, often on sandy soil; 0-600 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Taiwan, Yunnan [Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam; Africa, Asia, North America (naturalized in Jamaica), Pacific Islands].