Tag: Hedge Bindweed)

  • 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.)

  • 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.)