Ontario Weeds: Field bindweed
Table of Contents
- Name
- Other Names
- Family
- General Description
- Stems and Roots
- Flowers and Fruit
- Habitat
- Similar Species
- 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)
Field bindweed. A. Plant reproducing from horizontally
sprading root. B. Portion of flowering stem twining around an
erect support.
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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