Convolvulus prostratus

Convolvulus prostratus Forssk. Fl. Aegypt. Arab. 203. 1775; Singh & Sharma, Fl. Kullu Dist. 481. 2006; Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org p. 23; C. microphyllus Sieb. ex Spreng., Syst. Veg.1: 611. 1824; Clarke in Hook. f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 4: 218. 1885; Bole & Shah, J. Bomb. Nat. Hist. Soc. 58: 839. 1961; Heine, Kew Bull. 16: 205. 1962. C. pluricaulis Choisy, Mem. Soc. Phy. Geneve 6: 477. 1834; Clarke in Hook. f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 4: 218.

Perennial herb, 10-40 cm high, base woody, branching basally, branching ascending or decumbent, tomentose, patent and/ or appressed. Leaves alternate, sessile, 0.8-3 cm x 2-6 mm, linear to oblong, oblanceolate to lanceolate, apex subacute to obtuse, sometimes mucronate, villous, midvein prominent on lower surface, base cuneate. Flowers +/-actinomorphic, bisexual, 5-merous, hypogynous, sessile to subsessile (pedicel up to 3 mm long), 1-3(-5), on axillary peduncles up to 2 cm long, decreasing in length upwards, finally becoming subsessile; bracts linear-lanceolate, 3-7 mm long, pubescent. Sepals 5, free, 4-7 mm long, ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, acuminate, villous, proximally convex and colourless, distally green; outer 2 sepals longer, the inner ones short. Corolla funnelform, 1-1.2 cm long, white or pale pink, 1-1.3 cm long and 1-1.8 cm in diameter, limb 5-lobed, lobes shallow, broadly triangular, mucronate, midpetaline areas velvety pubescent. Stamens 5, inserted at near the base of corolla tube, unequal. Style slender, glabrous about 2-4 mm long; stigma 3-5 mm long. Capsule glabrous, somewhat scarious, bilocular, subglobose, 3-4 mm in diameter. Seeds 2-4, brown-black, ca. 2 mm long, sparingly to densely white pubescent.

Flowering and Fruiting: : March to June
Common Names: Prostrate Bind weed; Shankh Pushpi, Sireen, Dodak (Hindi)