4. C. marginata, R. Br. Prodr. 484.—Rhizome creeping; stems slender, twining, quite glabrous, 2–5 ft. long. Leaves on petioles 1–2 in. long; blade 1–3 in., sagittate, acute or acuminate, membranous; the basal lobes long, acute, diverging, often toothed or lobed. Peduncles usually shorter than the petioles, margined; bracts rounded-ovate, longer than the calyx. Sepals subequal, broadly ovate, obtuse. Corolla small, ½ in. diam., white. Ovary imperfectly 2-celled. Capsule globose; seeds usually 4.—Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 184, t. 48. Convolvulus marginatus. Spreng. Syst. i. 603; Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 198; Benth. Fl. Austral. iv. 430.
North Island: Rare and local. Near Kaitaia, R. H. Matthews! between Mongonui and Whangaroa, T.F.C.; Whangarei and Owai, Colenso; Maungatapere, H. Carse! Paparoa, Omaha, and Thames, Kirk! Sea-level to 500 ft. December–March. Also in Eastern Australia.
3. CONVOLVULUS, Linn.
Herbs or undershrubs, erect or prostrate or climbing. Leaves entire or toothed or lobed. Peduncles axillary, 1- or many-flowered; bracts usually narrow or small. Sepals subequal or the inner narrower. Corolla campanulate; limb plaited, 5-angled or obscurely o-lobed. Stamens included; filaments filiform, dilated at the base; anthers oblong. Ovary 2-celled, 4-ovuled; style filiform; stigmas 2, distinct, oblong or linear. Capsule globose, 2-celled, 4-valved or splitting irregularly. Seeds glabrous.
A large genus of about 160 species, abundant in most subtropical or temperate countries, less plentiful in the tropics. The single New Zealand species is also found in Australia.
1. C. erubescens, Sims in Bot. Mag. t. 1067.—Perennial; usually more or less silky-pubescent, rarely almost glabrous. Root-stock stout, creeping; stems few or many, slender, prostrate and trailing, variable in length, 2–12 in. long or more. Leaves petiolate, very variable in size and shape; the lower ones with a blade ¼–¾ in. long, oblong-cordate or hastate, obtuse, quite entire or sinuate; in large specimens gradually passing into much narrower acute or acummate upper ones, with diverging entire or irregularly toothed basal auricles; in small specimens the narrow cauline leaves are often wanting. Peduncles as long as the leaves or nearly so, 1-flowered, with 2 subulate bracts some distance oelow the calyx. Sepals broadly oblong, obtuse, silky. Corolla variable in size, ⅓–¾ in. diam., white. Capsule ¼–⅓ in. diam., globose, 2-celled. Seeds 4, rough, brownish-black.—Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 185; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 198; Benth. Fl. Austral. iv. 429.
