Convolvulus AlthÆoides. Silky-Leaved Convolvulus.

Class and Order.

Pentandria Monogynia.

Generic Character.

Cor. campanulata plicata. Stigmata 2. Caps. 2-locularis: loculis dispermis.

Specific Character and Synonyms.

CONVOLVULUS althÆoides foliis cordatis sinuatis sericeis: lobis repandis; pedunculis bifloris. Linn. Syst. Vegetab. ed. 14. Murr. p. 202. Ait. Kew. v. 1. p. 211. var. [Greek: b].

CONVOLVULUS argenteus AlthÆÆ folio. Bauh. Pin. p. 295.

CONVOLVULUS AlthÆÆ folio. Clus. Hist. p. xlix. fig.

PAPAVER cornutum luteum minus. Ger. Herb. p. 294. f. 4.

CONVOLVULUS argenteus elegantissimus foliis tenuiter incisis. Tournef. Inst. 85.

The name of AlthÆoides and the description of LinnÆus accord much better with the figure of this plant, as given by Clusius, than with the plant itself as cultivated in our gardens: whether the foliage of our plant becomes smaller and more finely divided by cultivation; whether it be a distinct species, as Miller affirms, or a permanent variety, as Mr. Aiton makes it, we have not been able satisfactorily to ascertain; the former gives no description of the radical leaves of his elegantissimus, and we have not found in any of our gardens a variety different from the one here figured. This species of Convolvulus, though cultivated here by J. Tradescant in 1656, is far from being common, which is the more surprising, as the plant is easy of culture and productive of flowers at once large and beautiful, and peculiarly interesting from the extreme variableness of its silky foliage, expanding into the most elegant forms imaginable.

Mr. Stevens, of Camerton-House, near Bath, informs me that it grows abundantly on the mountains near Victri, southeast of Naples, and in the Isle of Capri, mixed with Convolvulus Cneorum, Lithospermum fruticosum, &c. and in the adjacent islands and continent, forming a beautiful ornament to the shrubs it entwines: Clusius observed it in Spain and Portugal.

It flowers with us in June and July, and is increased without difficulty by parting its roots, which are of the creeping kind, in spring or autumn. It is usually kept in the greenhouse, but will succeed very well in the open border, guarding it against the unusual severity of weather.

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