Convolvulus fruticulosus Desr., Encycl. [Lamarck et al.]3: 54. 1792. (Desrousseaux. 1792: 541).

Wood, John R. I., Williams, Bethany R. M., Mitchell, Thomas C., Carine, Mark A., Harris, David J. & Scotland, Robert W., 2015, A foundation monograph of Convolvulus L. (Convolvulaceae), PhytoKeys 51, pp. 1-282 : 110-111

81. Convolvulus fruticulosus Desr., Encycl. [Lamarck et al.]3: 54. 1792. (Desrousseaux. 1792: 541).

Type.

CANARY ISLANDS, a plant grown at Paris from seed sent by Collignon from the Canary Islands (holotype P [Herb. Lam.]!).

Description.

Woody-based scrambling plant with long trailing stems to 1.5 m. Leaves shortly petiolate, 1-5 × 0.5-1.4(-2.5) cm, oblong, apiculate, entire, base sub cordate, weakly auriculate, thinly to densely tomentellous on both surfaces; petioles 2-4 mm. Flowers 1-3 in shortly pedunculate, axillary cymes the flowers and leaves crowded together; peduncles 0-10 mm; bracteoles, 5-6 mm, filiform, caducous; pedicels 5-12 mm; sepals 6-7 (-9) × 2.5-3 mm, pubescent, outer sepals broadly oblong-elliptic, obtuse to subacute, inner sepals oblong, acute to mucronate; corolla 1.5-1.7 cm long, pale blue, weakly lobed, midpetaline bands pilose; filaments glandular, ovary 3.5 mm long, pilose at apex or glabrous; style glabrous except sometimes near the base, divided 3 mm above base; stigmas 3 mm. Capsule globose-conical, apiculate, c. 4-8 mm long, pilose apically or glabrous; seeds tuberculate, glabrous. [ Sa’ad 1967: 250, Bramwell and Bramwell 2001: 262-263 (photo); Schönfelder and Schönfelder 1997: 176-177 (photo)]

Notes.

Convolvulus fruticulosus is a very variable species endemic to the Canary Islands, and populations appear to vary from island to island and from one part of an island to another part. Populations on the smaller islands are poorly known. Variation is mostly in indumentum, shape of the leaf base, development of the inflorescence and sepal shape. These differences do not correlate well with each other and the various names cited in the synonymy below seem to have been applied somewhat arbitrarily to one variant or another. As sepal shape is commonly of significance in taxon delimitation in Convolvulus , our infraspecific classification is based primarily on this character as was Sa’ad’s (1967: 251-252) but we disagree on the decisive sepal characters and on the interpretation or assignation of the various names. We recognise two subspecies: