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Pakistan | Family List

Convolvulaceae

DANIEL F. AUSTIN* & SHAHINA GHAZANFAR**


*Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida, USA

**National Herbarium, Agricultural Research Council, Islamabad. ( Now at Newnham College, Cambridge, England.)

Convolvulus pseudocantabricus
Illustration

Credit: M.Y. Saleem

Annual or perennial herbs, shrubs, lianas, twiners and creepers. Leaves alternate, entire, lobed, dissected or rarely palmately compound, exstipulate. Flowers in terminal or axillary simple or compound cymose inflorescences, bisexual, mostly actinomorphic. Sepals 5, free or rarely slightly connate basally. Corolla of 5 sympetalous lobes, infundibuliform, campanulate to salver-form. Stamens 5, epipetalous, free, included or exserted, the anthers 2-locular, mostly extrorse. Carpels 2, rarely 3 , ovary superior, usually upon an entire or lobed disc,l-2- or rarely 3-locular, ovules 2 per locule, style usually 1, occasionally bilobed or divided into 2, filiform, the stigmas usually 2, globose, ellipsoid or filiform. Fruits usually dry capsules or berries or dry baccate or indehiscent and chartaceous.

A pantropical family with 40 or more genera and about 1200 species. Represented in Pakistan by 13 native and cultivated genera.

Acknowledgements: We are grateful to the United States Department of Agri-culture for financing this research under P.L. 480 and to the Directors of the herbaria at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and Edinburgh for the loan of herbarium specimens. Thanks are also due to Messers B.L. Burtt, I.C. Hedge and Miss J. Lamond for going through the manuscript and to Dr. Verdcourt for the identification of Merremia palmata.


1 Herbs, prostrate or creeping. Ovary deeply 2-lobed. Styles 2, almost gynobasic. Flowers small, solitary, axillary. Corolla deeply 5-lobed. Leaves reniform or cordate orbicular   5 Dichondra
+ Herbs or shrubs, climbers, twining or rarely prostrate or erect. Ovary entire, styles 1 or 2, terminal on apex of ovary. Flowers medium to large, rarely small, if small then in compound, paniculate inflorescences. Corolla rarely deeply lobed, if so then the petals bifid or lobed. Leaves variable   (2)
       
2 (1) Herbs, subshrubby, perennial. Styles 2.   (3)
+ Herbs, climbers, perennial or annual. Styles usually 1 (2 in Evolvulus and these again bilobed into 4 filiform stigmas)   (4)
       
3 (2) Stamens and styles exserted   4 Cressa
+ Stamens and styles included   13 Seddera
       
4 (2) Stigmas filiform, attenuate to ellipsoid or oblong   (5)
+ Stigmas globose or bi-globose   (8)
       
5 (4) Stem and leaves with a stellate indumentum Stigmas ellipsoid to oblong   8 Jacquemontia
+ Stem and leaves glabrous or with an indumentum of 2-branched hairs.Stigmas filiform to elliptic and complanate   (6)
       
6 (5) Styles 2, each lobed into 2 filiform stigmas   6 Evolvulus
+ Styles single   (7)
       
7 (6) Stigmas filiform   3 Convolvulus
+ Stigmas oblong or elliptic, complanate   2 Calystegia
       
8 (4) Sepals accrescent in fruit, patent, scarious, falling with the fruit. Flowers 5-6mm long, white. Corolla limbs shallowly lobed   11 Porana
+ Sepals not or barely accrescent in fruit, falling with the fruit or not. Flowers usually 10 mm or longer, variously coloured. Corolla limbs shallowly lobed to sub-entire   (9)
       
9 (8) Corolla broad-infundibuliform or campanulate, yellow, yellowish or white and often with red or purple eye. Pollen smooth, colpate   (10)
+ Corolla infundibuliform to salverform, rarely campanulate, variously coloured but often purple. Pollen spinose, porate   (11)
       
10 (9) Capsule circumscissile, the upper part of epicarp separating from the lower part of the endocarp. Corolla usually white or yellow throughout. Stem terete or winged   10 Operculina
+ Capsule opening by 4 valves or irregularly. Corolla white or yellow, often with red purple centre. Stems terete   9 Merremia
       
11 (9) Fruits capsular, thin-walled, opening by valves or irregularly dehiscent. Herbaceous or rarely woody, twining or prostrate or rarely erect plants. Corolla usually glabrous outside   7 Ipomoea
+ Fruits indehiscent, fleshy, woody or somewhat ligneous. Suffrutescent to woody twining plants. Corolla usually pubescent outside, at least the interplicae   (12)
       
12 (11) Corolla white, salverform. Stamens attached near the middle of the tube. Stigmas linear oblong. Fruits nearly dry   12 Rivea
+ Corolla purple to rose, rarely white, infundibuliform. Stamens attached below the middle of the tube. Stigmas globose or bi-globose. Fruits fleshy or leathery, rarely nearly dry   1 Argyreia

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