Convolvulus cephalopodus Boiss., Diagn. Pl. Orient. 7: 24. 1846. (Boissier 1846: 24).

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 : 188

181. Convolvulus cephalopodus Boiss., Diagn. Pl. Orient. 7: 24. 1846. (Boissier 1846: 24).

Type.

IRAN, Makran, Aucher-Eloy 4949 (holotype G; isotypes BM000049216!, K!, OXF!, W!).

Description.

Perennial herb from a woody taproot, from which arise ascending stems 30-35 cm high. Branches stout; whole plant densely pubescent with grey hairs. Leaves sessile, 1.5-4 × 0.4-1 cm, oblong-oblanceolate, obtuse, margin crisped-undulate, attenuate to a long petiole-like base, sometimes the abaxial surface notably paler. Inflorescence of axillary, pedunculate heads, which are occasionally elongated into more or less scorpioid cymes; peduncles 1.2-1.5 cm; bracteoles 8 × 5 mm, ovate-elliptic, acute or shortly acuminate; outer sepals 10-12 × 3 mm, broadly lanceolate to ovate, acuminate; inner sepals shorter and narrower, c. 8 × 2 mm; corolla 1.5-2 cm, pinkish, unlobed, midpetaline bands pilose; ovary comose; style glabrous or with a few hairs, divided c. 2.5 mm above base, stigmas c. 2 mm long; capsule comose, seeds pubescent. [ Sa’ad 1967: 156; Nowroozi 2002: 77 (plate), 105 (map); Austin and Ghazanfar 1979: 20, 21 (plate); Jongbloed 2003: 311 (photo); Pickering and Patzelt 2008: 168 (photo)]

Notes.

We recognise two, not very well-defined subspecies, which are bridged by intermediates: