AESTIVASI

Convolvulaceae Juss.
Including Dichondraceae Dum., Erycib(ac)eae Endl., Poranaceae J.G. Agardh

Excluding Cuscutaceae, Humbertiaceae

Habit and leaf form. Herbs (mostly, climbing or trailing), or shrubs, or lianas, or trees (a few);
laticiferous (usually), or non-laticiferous and without coloured juice. Plants succulent, or non-
succulent; autotrophic. With neither basal nor terminal aggregations of leaves. Trailing or
climbing (nearly always), or self supporting; stem twiners (characteristically), or scrambling.
Helophytic, mesophytic, and xerophytic. Leaves alternate; spiral; `herbaceous', or fleshy;
petiolate (mostly), or subsessile, or sessile; non-sheathing; simple. Lamina dissected, or entire
(entire or lobed); when dissected, pinnatifid, or palmately lobed; pinnately veined, or palmately
veined; cross-venulate; cordate, or hastate, or sagittate. Leaves exstipulate; without a persistent
basal meristem.

General anatomy. Plants with laticifers (usually, these articulated and non-anastomosing), or
without laticifers.

Leaf anatomy. Lamina dorsiventral, or isobilateral. The mesophyll with sclerencymatous

idioblasts, or without sclerenchymatous idioblasts. Minor leaf veins without phloem transfer
cells (Convolvulus, Ipomaea).

Stem anatomy. Cork cambium present; initially deep-seated (rarely?), or superficial. Nodes
unilacunar. Cortical bundles absent. Medullary bundles present (rarely), or absent. Internal
phloem present (commonly), or absent. Secondary thickening anomalous (often), or developing
from a conventional cambial ring; via concentric cambia (commonly), or from a single cambial
ring. `Included' phloem present, or absent. Xylem with tracheids; with fibre tracheids (in addition
to tracheids), or without fibre tracheids; with vessels. Vessel end-walls simple. Sieve-tube
plastids S-type. Pith with diaphragms, or without diaphragms.

Reproductive type, pollination. Hermaphrodite (usually), or dioecious (Hildebrandtia).

Inflorescence, floral, fruit and seed morphology. Flowers solitary, or aggregated in

`inflorescences'; in cymes. The terminal inflorescence unit cymose. Inflorescences nearly always
simple or compound dichasia, or a cincinnus; with involucral bracts (often), or without
involucral bracts. Flowers bracteate; bracteolate (usually?), or ebracteolate (e.g. Wilsonia);
medium-sized, or large; regular to somewhat irregular. The floral asymmetry (when noticeable)
involving the perianth (K only). Flowers usually 5 merous; cyclic; tetracyclic. Free hypanthium
absent. Hypogynous disk present; annular.
Perianth with distinct calyx and corolla; 10; 2 whorled; isomerous. Calyx 5; 1 whorled;
polysepalous, or gamosepalous (rarely); persistent; imbricate; with the odd member posterior.
Corolla 5; 1 whorled; gamopetalous; valvate and plicate, or contorted and plicate; tubular
(mostly, more or less), or campanulate, or urceolate; nearly always regular.

Androecium 5. Androecial members adnate (to the base of the corolla); all equal, or markedly
unequal (often); free of one another; 1 - whorled. Androecium exclusively of fertile stamens.
Stamens 5; oppositisepalous. Anthers dehiscing via longitudinal slits; introrse; tetrasporangiate.
Microsporogenesis simultaneous. The initial microspore tetrads tetrahedral, or decussate. Anther
wall initially with one middle layer; of the `dicot' type. Tapetum glandular. Pollen grains
aperturate; 3 - aperturate, or 4-20 - aperturate (to polyforaminate); colpate (including rupate), or
porate, or colporate (?), or foraminate, or rugate; 2-celled, or 3-celled.

Gynoecium 2(-5); syncarpous; synovarious to eu-syncarpous, or synstylous (i.e. the carpels

sometimes joined only by the common style); superior. Ovary (1-)2(-5) locular (sometimes
bilocular above, but the septum incomplete below). Gynoecium median. Styles 1-5; free to
partially joined; apical, or `gynobasic'. Stigmas dry type; papillate; Group II type. Placentation
basal. Ovules (1-)2 per locule; ascending; non-arillate; anatropous; bitegmic; tenuinucellate, or
crassinucellate. Embryo-sac development Polygonum-type. Polar nuclei fusing only after one has
been fertilized, or fusing simultaneously with the male gamete (?). Antipodal cells formed; 3; not
proliferating; usually ephemeral. Synergids usually slender and elongated, rarely small and
ephemeral. Endosperm formation nuclear. Embryogeny caryophyllad.

Fruit fleshy, or non-fleshy; when synstylous, multiple, or not multiple. The units coalescing into
a secondary syncarp to not coalescent. The fruiting carpel when synstylous, dehiscent, or
indehiscent; nucular, or baccate. Fruit dehiscent, or indehiscent; a capsule, or a berry, or a nut.
Capsules loculicidal, or circumscissile, or splitting irregularly. Seeds endospermic. Endosperm
oily. Seeds conspicuously hairy, or not conspicuously hairy. Cotyledons 2 (plicate, often bifid).
Embryo chlorophyllous (5/11); straight, or curved.

Seedling. Germination phanerocotylar.

Physiology, biochemistry. Cyanogenic, or not cyanogenic. Cynogenic constituents

phenylalanine-derived (?), or of Hegnauer's `Group C' (?). Alkaloids present (commonly), or
absent. Iridoids absent. Proanthocyanidins absent. Flavonols present, or absent (Ipomoea);
kaempferol and quercetin. Ellagic acid absent (4 species, 3 genera). Arbutin absent.
Saponins/sapogenins absent (usually), or present. Aluminium accumulation not found. C3. C3
recorded in Convolvulus, Cressa, Dichondra, Evolvulus, Ipomea, Jacquemontia, Merremia,
Seddera. Anatomy non-C4 type (Astripomoea, Convolvulus, Cressa, Falkia, Ipomoea,
Lepistemonopsis, Merremia, Seddera).

Geography, cytology. Temperate to tropical. Cosmopolitan. X = 7-15(+).

Taxonomy. Subclass Dicotyledonae; Tenuinucelli. Dahlgren's Superorder Solaniflorae;

Solanales. Cronquist's Subclass Asteridae; Solanales. Takhtajan's Subclass Asteridae; Lamianae;
Polemoniales. Species 1650. Genera about 55; Aniseia, Argyreia, Astripomoea, Blinkworthia,
Bonamia, Breweria, Calycobolus, Calystegia, Cardiochlamys, Cladistigma, Convolvulus,
Cordisepalum, Cressa, Decalobanthus, Dichondra, Dicranostyles, Dinetus, Dipteropeltis,
Ericybe, Evolvulus, Falckia, Hewittia, Hildebrandtia, Hyalocystis, Ipomoea, Iseia, Itzaea,
Jacquemontia, Lepistemon, Lepistemonopsis, Lysiostyles, Maripa, Merremia, Metaporana,
Nephrophyllum, Neuropeltis, Neuropeltopsis, Odonellia, Operculina, Paralepistemon,
Pentacrostigma, Pharbitis, Polymeria, Porana, Poranopsis, Rapona, Rivea, Sabaudiella,
Seddera, Poranopsis, Rapona, Rivea, Sabaudiella, Seddera, Stictocardia, Stylisma,
Tetralocularia, Tridynamia, Turbina, Wilsonia, Xenostegia.

Austin 1973.

Illustrations. convo565.gif convo567.gif convo462.gif convo630.gif

Additional, to be intercalated. Convolvulus, Ipomoea, Rivea twining anticlockwise.

convo565.gif
w