Leaves
alternate, simple, sometimes palmately or pinnately lobed (scale-like in
Cuscuta
); stipules usually 0
Flowers
regular, bisexual, often showy, in pedunculate, bracteate, axillary cymes or sometimes solitary
Calyx
(4)5(6)-partite, persistent, imbricate
Corolla
united, usually only slightly 5-lobed, campanulate or funnel-shaped, rarely cylindric
Disc
(nectary) often present and surrounding base of ovary
Stamens
5, alternating with corolla lobes, arising from base of corolla tube; filaments with anthers 2-thecous and dehiscing longitudinally
Ovary
superior, 1-4-locular, entire or sometimes deeply lobed, with 1-4 basal ovules in each locule; styles 1 or 2, terminal on ovary or gynobasic, sometimes with the 2 styles connate at base; stigmas terete, capitate, dilated, or linear
Fruit
capsular or indehiscent
Seeds
as many as ovules or fewer, glabrous, villous, woolly, or verrucose; embryo straight; cotyledons foliaceous, sometimes small or 0 (
Cuscuta
); endosperm scanty to fairly copious
Nomenclature:
Convolvulaceae
Meeuse: 641 (1957)
Verdcourt: 1 (1963)
Gonçalves: 1 (1987)
Meeuse & Welman: 1 (2000)
Distribution & Notes:
Global
: Genera ± 55, species ± 1700, cosmopolitan, especially warm regions, mostly natives of tropical Asia and America, extending to Australia, Africa and Madagascar
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Welcome to Biodiversity Advisor 2.0!
Biodiversity Advisor, developed by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and its Data Partners, is a system that will provide integrated biodiversity information to a wide range of users who will have access to geospatial data, plant and animal species distribution data, ecosystem-level data, literature, images and metadata.
The integrated information comes from our much-loved Botanical Database of Southern Africa (BODATSA) also known as Plants of Southern Africa (POSA), Zoological Database of Southern Africa (ZODATSA), Biodiversity Geographic Information System (BGIS), SANBI's institutional repository (Opus) and others.
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