Convolvulus capensis Burm.f., Fl. Ind. (N.L. Burman) Prodr. Fl. Cap. 5. 1768. (Burman 1768: 5).

Wood, John R. I., Williams, Bethany R. M., Mitchell, Thomas C., Carine, Mark A., Harris, David J. & Scotland, Robert W., 2015, A foundation monograph of Convolvulus L. (Convolvulaceae), PhytoKeys 51, pp. 1-282 : 68-69

24. Convolvulus capensis Burm.f., Fl. Ind. (N.L. Burman) Prodr. Fl. Cap. 5. 1768. (Burman 1768: 5). Figure 6, t. 17-22.

Convolvulus plicatus Desr., Encycl. [J. Lamarck et al.] 3: 558. 1792. ( Desrousseaux 1792: 558). Type. SOUTH AFRICA, Sonnerat s.n. (holotype P-Lam, not seen).

Convolvulus alceifolius Lam., Tabl. Encycl.1: 461. 1793. ( Lamarck 1793: 461). Type. SOUTH AFRICA, sin col. (P [Herb. Lam.]).

Convolvulus falkia Jacq., Hort Schoenbr. 2: 38, t. 198. 1797, nom illeg., non Convolvulus falkia Thunb. (1794). ( Jacquin 1797: 38). Type. Icon, t.198 in Hort. Schoenbr.

Convolvulus filiformis Thunb., Fl. Cap. 2:16. 1818, nom. illeg., non Convolvulus filiformis Desr. (1789). ( Thunberg 1818: 16). Type. SOUTH AFRICA, Thunberg s.n. (various syntypes UPS).

Convolvulus inconspicuus Hallier f., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 18: 106. 1893 [ “1894”]. ( Hallier 1894: 106). Type. SOUTH AFRICA, Western Cape, Namaqualand, Lilyfontein, Drège s.n. (holotype B†; isotypes K!, L, W!).

Convolvulus capensis var. dissectus Hallier f., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 18: 105. 1893 [ “1894”], nom. illeg., superfluous name for autonymic variety ( Hallier 1893: 105).

Convolvulus capensis var. malvifolius Hallier f., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 18: 106. 189. 1893 [ “1894”]. ( Hallier 1893: 106). Type. SOUTH AFRICA, Cape, Zeyher & Eckler 24 (syntype?B†), Drege, 'C. alceifolius’ a, b, (syntype? B†).

Convolvulus capensis var. plicatus (Desr.) Baker, Fl. Cap. (Harvey) 4(2): 78. 1904. ( Baker and Wright 1904: 78). Type. Based on Convolvulus plicatus Desr.

Type.

SOUTH AFRICA, Cape, without collection data (holotype G, not seen).

Description.

Perennial herb, usually coarsely brown-pubescent on all vegetative parts, occasionally glabresent or white-pubescent; stems to 1.5 m, climbing or prostrate, sometimes woody towards the base. Leaves petiolate, 1.5-5 × 1.5-4 cm, very variable in form but always palmately veined, oblong, ovate or reniform in outline, sometimes unlobed with coarsely crenate to laciniate margins, often deeply palmately lobed or palmatisect, base more or less hastate, apex acute or obtuse; petioles 0.4-1.5 cm. Flowers solitary or arranged in few-flowered cymes, peduncles 4-10 cm; pedicels 4-15 mm; bracteoles 4-7 mm, filiform to linear; outer sepals 8-13 × 5-8 mm, oblong-ovate, acute or acuminate, often scarious-margined; corolla 2-3.2 cm, white, unlobed, fimbriate, the midpetaline bands thinly pilose, terminating in a small tooth; ovary glabrous; style glabrous, divided 5-6 mm above base, stigmas 1.5-2 × 0.5-0.75 mm, very narrowly ellipsoid. Capsule glabrous; seeds glabrous, smooth except for the obscurely rugose angles. [ Meeuse 1958: 692; Meeuse and Welman 2000: 40 (map)]

Distribution.

South Africa: Eastern and Western Cape (Parker 4618, Bolus 5211, Thompson 768, Garside 1610, Acocks 14813, Galpin 10544).

Notes.

Recognised by the large unlobed, often fimbriate, white corolla combined with palmately-veined leaves and very short, thick stigmas. Some specimens are almost indistinguishable from the Mediterranean Convolvulus althaeoides , except by the distinctive stigmas.

Plants from Namaqualand (northwestern Cape) have a shorter calyx (6-7 mm long) and smaller corolla (12-16 mm) and have been treated as a distinct species, Convolvulus inconspicuus . They resemble Convolvulus multifidus very closely but can be distinguished by the presence of a distinct peduncle. The more distinctly elongate, 2 mm long stigmas of the type suggest they might be hybrids: C. capensis × multifidus.