Habit: Perennial herb, subshrub from caudex or rhizome, glabrous to tomentose.
Stem: short to high-climbing, generally twisting, twining.
Leaf: generally > 1 cm, linear to reniform or sagittate to hastate (deeply divided).
Inflorescence: peduncle generally 1-flowered; bracts generally +- opposite, lobed or not, > 1 mm below calyx, not hiding it, small, to < 1 mm below calyx, hiding it or +- so, large.
Flower: generally showy; corolla glabrous, white or yellow to pink or purple; ovary chamber 1, style 1, stigma lobes 2, oblong, tips obtuse.
Fruit: +- spheric, +- inflated.
Seed: generally +- 4.
Species In Genus: +- 25 species: temperate, worldwide.
Etymology: (Greek: hiding calyx, by bracts of some)
Note: Intermediates common, often difficult to identify. Molecular evidence indicates close relationship with
Convolvulus (Carine et al. 2004 Amer J Bot 91:1070--1085). Bracts qualify as bractlets by some definitions. Leaf blade length measured along midrib.
Jepson eFlora Author: R.K. Brummitt
Reference: Brummitt 2002 Madroño 49:130--131
Unabridged Reference: Brummitt 1980 Kew Bull 35(2):327--328Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)Key to Calystegia
Previous taxon: ConvolvulaceaeNext taxon: Calystegia atriplicifolia subsp. buttensis