Convolvulaceae Volvo, Portugal

Convolvulaceae Volvo is an abandoned car sitting at the roadside in a small town in Portugal. This one was a discovery completely by chance! As we drove between two abandoned locations, we spotted this car at the roadside. The car stands in the parking lot of an abandoned factory or garage. This one was a wonderful excuse to stretch the legs and snap a few photos in the process.

I photographed this car during the Portugal 2022 Tour.

A closer look at the Convolvulaceae Volvo

The car is a Volvo, likely manufactured in the mid-1980s. The model is a little trickier to ascertain, due to the plants covering most of the car. From the parts I can see, I think it is a Volvo 240.

Convolvulaceae; a little delve into some botany

TLDR; the plants that cover the car belong to a family called Convolvulaceae and this is where I derived the codename from 😉

Convolvulaceae (scientific names should always be in italics, fun fact number 1!) is a family of plants, more commonly called bindweed or morning glory. These plants are usually vine-like, with big funnel-shaped flowers with beautiful five fold symmetry (five sepals, five petals, five stamens). The leaves are usually heart-shaped, but may also be three- or in extreme cases five-lobed. However, the stem of these plants are their classifying feature. The stems have the ability to wind around things, enabling the plants to spread across the ground or up walls quickly. Infact, the Latin family name Convolvulaceae is derived from “convolvere”, meaning “to wind”

A bonus botanical fun fact for you, the sweet potato is also a member of this family. See, geeky plant facts can be super fun 😉

The plants that cover this car are Ipomoea purpurea (Common Morning Glory), a species that is a member of the family Convolvulaceae. They are a common sight growing wild in Portugal. While I am more a lover of ferns and other spore-producing plants, Ipomoea purpurea are one of my favourite flowers to grow in my garden back home in England. In England, the frosts kills these off every winter. So every spring, I sow seeds, nurture them in trays inside my greenhouse, and then plant them to enjoy a wall of colour all summer.