Convolvulus sabatius Viv.
Perennial herb, forming dense mats, and producing numerous trailing, slender, hairy, nearly terete stems. Petiole very short. Lamina 1.5-4 × 1-2.6 cm, broad-ovate, elliptic or oblong-elliptic, entire, hairy, especially on margins; base truncate; apex rounded or obtuse. Fls axillary, usually solitary. Peduncles > subtending lvs; pedicels slender, hairy. Bracts 6-10 mm long, narrow-linear, hairy, situated c. 5 mm below calyx. Sepals 5-9 mm long, lanceolate, hairy, subequal, the 2 inner sepals narrower and ± acuminate. Corolla 1.7-2 × 2.3-3 cm, broadly funnelform, deep blue inside, with white mid-petaline bands outside and white eye in centre. Stamens unequal; filaments glandular-puberulent towards base. Stigmas filiform, only slightly < style. Capsule not seen.
N.: Auckland; S.: Nelson.
W. Mediterranean 1981
An occasional garden escape in waste places, especially roadsides in open places in and around settlements.
FL Sep-Feb.
C. sabatius is a popular garden plant for rock gardens, dry banks and stone walls. N.Z. plants may be referred to subsp. mauritanicus (Boiss.) Murb., usually accorded specific rank as C. mauritanicus Boiss.
