Convolvulus (Lat. convolvēre, 'to twine together'), a genus of plants, the type of the order Convolvulaceæ. This order contains about 800 known species, herbaceous and shrubby; generally with a twining stem and milky juice, chiefly tropical. Many are cultivated as ornamental plants, particularly species of Convolvulus and Ipomœa.
The acrid milky juice is often strongly purgative; and jalap and scammony are products of this order. Some species, however, have large farinaceous roots, capable of being used as food, of which the Batatas or Sweet Potato (q.v.) is the most important. A few are natives of Britain, and are known by the name of Bindweed. A common name in the United States is Morning Glory. C. arvensis is a troublesome weed in some sandy soils in England, and Calystegia sepium in richer soils. The wood of C. scoparius, a shrubby species, native of the Canary Isles, called 'Rosewood,' or Lignum Rhodii by apothecaries, has so strong a smell of roses that the essential oil it yields on distillation is employed to adulterate the attar of roses.