Hedge Bindweed (Calystegia sepium)
- Family: Morning-glory (Convolvulaceae)
- Flowering: May-September.
- Field Marks: This is the only large-flowered, white,
viny bindweed or morning-glory that does not have a reddish
purple center and that has large bracts that conceal the sepals.
- Habitat: Old fields, wet meadows, along streams,
roadside ditches, around ponds and lakes.
- Habit: Trailing, twining, or climbing vine from
coarse rootstocks.
- Stems: Slender, usually twining, much branched,
smooth or hairy, sometimes up to 8 feet long.
- Leaves: Alternate, simple, triangular, pointed at the
tip, arrowhead-shaped at the base, smooth or hairy, without
teeth, up to 4 inches long, up to 2 inches wide; leaf stalk as
long as the blade.
- Flowers: Solitary from the axils of the leaves, on
stalks at least as long as the leaves, each flower with a pair of
green, ovate bracts that conceal the sepals.
- Sepals: 5, green.
- Petals: White, rarely pinkish, united to form a
funnel-shaped corolla up to 3 inches long, without a reddish
purple center.
- Stamens: 5, attached near the base of the corolla.
- Pistils: Ovary superior.
- Fruits: Capsules green, nearly spherical.
- Notes: There are reports that this species may be
poisonous when eaten by some animals.
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