CONVOLVULUS OLEIFOLIUS

Family:- CONVOLVULACEAE

Common Names:- Olive-leaved Bindweed.

Synonyms:- Convolvulus cneorum.

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

philosopher Pliny.

Oleifolius (L) With olive tree like leaves.

General description:- Densely silky (sericeous), erect or spreading, branched

perennial.

Stems:-

1) 10-50 cm, woody in much of the lower parts.

Leaves:-

1) Alternate, simple, filiform to linear, 30mm long at the most, attenuate at the

base, herbaceous and scarcely widened at the extreme base, silver-coloured like

those of the olive-tree.

Flowers:-

1) In terminal, usually crowded, heads; peduncles absent or very short, usually

hidden.

2) Corolla 15-25 mm, usually pink.

3) Stamens 5, equal between them, inserted into the base of the corolla.

4) Sepals, acuminate to cuspidate.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule, shorter than the calyx when ripe, pubescent.

Key features:-

1) Inner sepals acuminate to cuspidate.

2) Corolla usually pink.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Open dry shrubby vegetation, rocky places, on steep banks, maritime

sands and offshore islets, 0-700 m.

Distribution:- S Greece, Crete, Malta, Aegean Is. and E. Mediterranean, including

Cyprus. Fairly widespread on Crete, more so in the east.

Flowering time:- May-June.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton