Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs

Ontario Weeds: Field bindweed

Table of Contents

1. Name
2. Other Names
3. Family
4. General Description
   • Photos and Pictures
5. Stems and Roots
6. Flowers and Fruit
7. Habitat
8. Similar Species
9. Related Links

Name: Field bindweed, Convolvulus arvensis L.,

Other Names: liseron des champs, European bindweed, Small-flowered morning-glory, Wild morning-glory, liseron

Family: Morning-Glory Family (Convolvulaceae)

General Description: Perennial, reproducing by seed and by an extensively spreading and very persistent, whitish underground root system.

Photos and Pictures

Field bindweed (A - vine-like stems spreading over the ground;
B - flowers turn pink with age)

 

Stems & Roots: Stems slender, smooth or pubescent or very finely hairy, usually twining or curling, prostrate or climbing on any nearby object; leaves alternate (1 per node), with short or long stalks, very variable in form but commonly arrowhead-shaped with 2 basal lobes and smooth margins, sometimes long and narrow, or broader or nearly round except for the 2 basal lobes;

Flowers & Fruit: Flowers on long stalks from axils of leaves, always with a pair of small, narrow, green bracts on the flower stalk some distance below the flower; flowers with 5 small green sepals and a white to pinkish funnel-shaped corolla 2-2.5cm (4/5-1in.) in diameter when fully opened; seedpods roundish, about 5mm (1/5in.) long containing 1 to 4 seeds each of which is about 3mm (1/8in.) long, pear-shaped and 3-angled with 1 side rounded and with tiny grayish bumps. Flowers from mid-June until autumn.

Habitat: Field bindweed occurs throughout Ontario in cultivated fields, gardens, lawns, roadsides, and waste places.

Similar Species: It is distinguished from hedge bindweed, which also has perennial roots, by its smaller leaves, flowers usually not over 2.5cm (1in.) in diameter, and the 2 small bracts near the middle of the flower stalk, these tiny bracts never enclosing the base of the flower. It is distinguished from Wild buckwheat by being perennial with extensively creeping, white, cord-like, fleshy roots which produce new shoots and form dense patches; by its white or pinkish, funnel-shaped flowers with long stalks, and by the absence of an ocrea (membranous sheath) surrounding the stem at the base of each leafstalk.

Related Links

... on general Weed topics
... on weed identification, order OMAFRA Publication 505: Ontario Weeds
... on weed control, order OMAFRA Publication 75: Guide To Weed Control

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