S.I. ALI

Perennial twining plant, branches slightly pubescnt when young, becoming glabrous. Leaf 2-15 x 1.5-10 cm, auriculate to cordate, lobes rounded, tip acute, glabrous to subglabours, minutely hairy on midrib and veins. Petioles 1-5 cm long, minutely hairy to glabrous. Flowers in pedunculate, axillary cymes. Peduncle 1-6 cm long. Pedicel 5-10 mm long. Calyx 1.5-2 mm long, white minutely hairy, teeth triangular, cup very small. Corolla purplish or white, lobes c. 4-5 mm long, linear, acute to obtuse. Corona 5 lobed, lobes broad, caudate, with tongue-like process near base within. Follicles 6-16-(21) cm x 8-10 mm long, glabrous, acuminate.

Fl. Per.: June-August.

Type: ‘Habitat in Sicilia, Hispania, Astracan’ (LINN 308/3).

Distribution: Pakistan (Gilgit, Hunza, Chitral); Kashmir; S.W. Asia, S.E. Russia to S. Europe, Egypt, Libya and Algeria.