CONVOLVULUS SICULUS subsp. SICULUS

Family:- CONVOLVULACEAE

Common Name:- Small blue convolvulus

Synonyms:- None.

Meaning:- Convolvulus (L) Entwined. A name used by the Roman naturalist and

philosopher Pliny.

Siculus (L) From Sicily, Sicilian.

General description:- Sparsely pubescent annual or short-lived perennial.

Stems:-

1) 10-60 cm, slender, trailing (rarely twining), herbaceous.

Leaves:-

1) Petiolate, lanceolate to ovate, cordate or rarely truncate, entire.

2) Peduncles axillary, usually shorter than the bracts, 1-(to 2-) flowered.

Flowers:-

1) Sepals acute to acuminate, pubescent.

2) Corolla, blue with a yellowish centre, 9-12mm, distinctly 5-lobed, solitary or

paired, short-stalked.

3) Bracteoles leaf-like, borne just below the sepals and greatly overlapping them.

Fruit:-

1) Capsules.

Key features:-

1) Corolla 9-12 mm; blue.

2) Peduncles usually shorter or not much longer than the subtending bracts.

3) Annual or short-lived perennial with slender root.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Open dry shrubby vegetation on steep rocky slopes, rock ledges, mainly

on limestone. 0-500 m.

Distribution:- Widespread and common across the Mediterranean. Sporadic

appearance on Crete, mainly in the east and west.

Flowering time:- Mid-Mar to May.

Photos by:- Fotis Samaritakis