About Evolvulus alsinoides (L.) L.
This species has the accepted scientific name Evolvulus alsinoides (L.) L. It is a herbaceous plant that can be either annual or perennial. It grows numerous prostrate or ascending slender stems that bear both appressed and spreading hairs. Its leaves are petiolate or subsessile, measuring 0.7 to 2.5 cm long and 5 to 10 mm wide. Flowers are borne singly or grouped in few-flowered cymes, carried on filiform peduncles 2.5 to 3.5 cm long. The calyx is made up of villous, lanceolate sepals that are 3 to 4 mm long. The corolla is rounded, with fivefold pentameric symmetry, most commonly blue and rarely white, and measures 7 to 10 mm in diameter. The stamens have filiform filaments and are united at the base of the corolla tube. The glabrous ovary is topped by two free styles. The fruit is a globular capsule that splits into four valves, and typically holds four black, smooth seeds. This species occupies a very wide range of habitats, ranging from marshland and wet forests to deserts. Several varieties and subspecies of Evolvulus alsinoides are currently recognized. It is counted among the plants that make up Dasapushpam, the collection of ten sacred flowers of Kerala.
