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Family Convolvulaceae

Description: Herbs, shrubs, climbers or leafless parasites, glabrous or pubescent.

Leaves alternate, margins entire, lobed or deeply divided.

Inflorescence mainly an axillary cyme, 1 to many-flowered, bracteolate. Flowers actinomorphic, rarely slightly zygomorphic, bisexual, 5-merous or rarely 3 or 4-merous. Sepals usually free. Corolla tubular, funnel-shaped, campanulate, rarely rotate or trumpet-shaped. Stamens 5, fused to the corolla, alternating with corolla lobes; anthers 2-locular, opening by longitudinal slits. Disc usually present. Ovary superior, 1- or 2-, rarely 3- or 4-locular; ovules 2, rarely 1 in each loculus.

Fruit a capsule, dehiscing by valves or circumsciss, rarely fleshy or indehiscent.


Distribution and occurrence: World: c. 55 genera, c. 1650 species, cosmopolitan, mainly tropical and subtropical regions. Australia: 20 genera, c. 130 species, all States.

External links:
Angiosperm Phylogeny Website (Family: Convolvulaceae, Order: Solanales)
Wikipedia

The family includes a number of species with edible starchy tubers, including the sweet potato and native species eaten by Aborigines. Some are toxic to stock, while a few are weeds, mainly of tropical crops. Some exotic species such as the morning glories (Ipomoea species) are widely cultivated for their showy flowers and have become naturalized. The Cuscutaceae (1 gen., c. 170 spp.) are sometimes recognized as a separate family.

Text by R. W. Johnson
Taxon concept:

 Key to the genera 
1Yellow, brown or reddish, leafless parasitic twinersCuscuta
Green leafy plants, not parasitic on other plants2
2Ovary distinctly 2-lobed, styles 2, inserted between the lobesDichondra
Ovary entire, style or styles terminal
                       Back to 1
3
3Sepals united, with lobes shorter than the tubeWilsonia
Sepals free
                       Back to 2
4
4Styles 2, free or united for up to half their length; hairs bifid5
Style 1; hairs simple or bifid
                       Back to 3
7
5Styles united at the baseBonamia
Styles free
                       Back to 4
6
6Styles forked with linear stigmas; flowers axillaryEvolvulus
Styles entire with capitate stigmas; flowers terminal
                       Back to 5
Cressa
7Capsule small, indehiscent, 1-seeded; sepals at fruiting enlarged, spreading, scarious and reticulate; hairs bifidDuperreya
Capsule and fruiting sepals not as above; hairs simple
                       Back to 4
8
8Stigma capitate or bigloboseIpomoea
Stigma lobed, lobes linear or oblong
                       Back to 7
9
9Stigmatic lobes 210
Stigmatic lobes 4 or more
                       Back to 8
Polymeria
10Bracteoles large, subtending and more or less enclosing the calyxCalystegia
Bracteoles small, distant from the calyx
                       Back to 9
Convolvulus

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