A delicate-looking wild morning glory that can survive mowing to light up lawns. These were photographed June 8 on a hillside in Beechview.
For a fuller description, see the Convolvulus arvensis reference page.
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Field Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis)
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Morning Glory (Ipomoea purpurea), Pale Blue Form
Photographed September 2. Morning Glories are very common weeds here; they can be quite rampant, but they reward us with gorgeous flowers. By far the majority are in deep purple or pink, but the genetics of the species are variable enough to have produced a wide variety of cultivated colors, and we sometimes see unusual colors in the wild. Here is a wild pale-blue form that grew in Beechview.
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Hedge Bindweed (Calystegia sepium)
The pure white form is by far the more common; we have recently seen a beautiful bicolor, but the pure white is as elegant as a wedding gown. We may curse this weed when it invades our hedges and gardens, but even the most heartlessly intolerant gardener probably sneaks an admiring look at the flowers when no one is paying attention. These flowers were blooming in a little patch of dirt along Carson Street in the middle of the South Side.
Gray makes Calystegia (which he apparently named) a division of the genus Convolvulus. He describes the genus, division, and species:
CONVOLVULUS [Tourn.] L. BINDWEED. Corolla funnel-form to campanulate. Stamens included. Capsule globose, 2-celled, or imperfectly 4-celled by spurious partitions between the 2 seeds, or by abortion 1-celled, mostly 2-4-valved. Herbs or somewhat shrubby plants, twining, erect, or prostrate. (Name from convolvere, to entwine.)
CALYSTEGIA (R. Br.) Gray. Stigmas oval to oblong; calyx inclosed in
2 broad leafy bracts.C. sepium L. (HEDGE B.) Glabrous or essentially so; stem high-twining or sometimes trailing extensively; leaves triangular-halberd-shaped, acute or pointed, the basal lobes obliquely truncate and often somewhat toothed or sinuate-lobed or merely rounded; peduncles chiefly elongated, 4-angled; bracts rounded to sharp-acuminate at tip; corolla white or rose-color, 3-5 cm. long. (Including var. americanus Sims.) Moist alluvial soil or along streams. June-Sept. (Eurasia.)
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Hedge Bindweed (Calystegia sepium)
Photographed September 5. Even the usual plain white flowers are very attractive. The rarer bicolor forms like this are beautiful—and almost poetic when we add raindrops. The plant may be a pernicious weed, but we should appreciate the beauty even of our pernicious weeds.
We have seen Calystegia sepium before, and we repeat the text of the previous article:
Also called Wild Morning Glory. Hedge Bindweeds do indeed love hedges, but they really come into their own on a chain-link fence. Most often the flowers are white, but sometimes we see a glorious bicolor like this one, which in size and color rivals the cultivated Morning Glory.
Gray makes Calystegia a division of the genus Convolvulus. He describes the genus, division, and species:
CONVOLVULUS [Tourn.] L. BINDWEED
Corolla funnel-form to campanulate. Stamens included. Capsule globose, 2-celled, or imperfectly 4-celled by spurious partitions between the 2 seeds, or by abortion 1-celled, mostly 2-4-valved. Herbs or somewhat shrubby plants, twining, erect, or prostrate. (Name from convolvere, to entwine.)CALYSTEGIA (R. Br.) Gray. Stigmas oval to oblong; calyx inclosed in
2 broad leafy bracts.C. sepium L. (HEDGE B.) Glabrous or essentially so; stem high-twining or sometimes trailing extensively; leaves triangular-halberd-shaped, acute or pointed, the basal lobes obliquely truncate and often somewhat toothed or sinuate-lobed or merely rounded ; peduncles chiefly elongated, 4-angled; bracts rounded to sharp-acuminate at tip ; corolla white or rose-color, 3-5 cm. long. (Including var. americanus Sims.) Moist alluvial soil or along streams. June-Sept. (Eurasia.)
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Morning Glory (Ipomoea purpurea)
These showy vines have appeared here more than once, and doubtless they will appear again. They have a magnetic attraction for the camera. All these pictures, by the way, went straight from the camera to publication without any alteration, because Morning Glories can’t help making good pictures.
In previous articles, we gave this description, which we repeat here:
Flowers. Large and showy; trumpet-shaped, like an old phonograph horn; five-parted, with white center and contrasting darker markings radiating from the center. They come in several colors, from the deepest velvety purple to bright pink. They close by midday, or later if the weather is chilly or dark.
Leaves. Heart-shaped, or on vigorous and high-growing vines sometimes three-lobed, like a grape leaf; smooth above, lightly rough-hairy below; strongly veined.
Stem. Hairy; bright green; long and climbing; climbs by wrapping itself around any support, often bundling with other stems from the same plant, forming a dense mound; can climb to 9 feet (3 m) or so in one season.
Gray describes the genus and the species, which he places in the Euipomoea or Ipomoea-proper section of the genus:
IPOMOÈA L. MORNING GLORY. Calyx not bracteate at base, but the outer sepals commonly larger. Corolla salver-form or funnel-form to nearly campanulate; the limb entire or slightly lobed. Capsule globular, 4-6 (by abortion fewer)-seeded, 2-4-valved. (Nаmе, according to Linnaeus, from ips, a Bindweed, and homoios, like; but ips is a worm.)
§ 2. EUIPOMOÈA Gray. Corolla funnel-form or nearly campanulate, contorted in the bud; stamens and style not exserted
Lobes of stigma and cells 3, sepals long and narrow, attenuate upward, mostly hirsute below; corolla purple, blue, or white. (MORNING GLORY.)
I. purpurea (L.) Roth. (COMMON M.) Annual; stems retrorsely hairy; leaves heart-shaped, acuminate, entire; peduncles long, umbellately 3-5-flowered; calyx bristly-hairy below; corolla funnel-form, 4.5-7 cm. long, purple, varying to white. — Escaped in cultivated grounds. (Introd. from Trop. Am.)
