TURBINA OBLONGATA

This member of the Convolvulaceae family has been named by Adrianus Dirk Jacob Meeuse in 1958. It's from southern Africa and Ethiopia, where it grows in well-drained grit, and get some water and lots of sun in the growing-session. The flowers are pink. The caudex can grow to twelve centimetres in diameter, the vines grow to 30 centimetres.

The genera name from Latin turbino; 'spinning' as the fruits bear a faint resemblance to a spinning-top. The species name means 'oblong-shaped' - or 'oval', like the leaves. Ronald Kushner writes: The seedpods of all Turbina are distinguished by having leathery (!) seedpods, and although some Ipomoea may (!) have 'leathery type' pods, very leathery pods are a major feature of the genus Turbina.