212 FLOWERS OF THE ROADSIDES AND HEDGES 
fodder. Sugar is derived from the sap. The leaves have been used 
to adulterate tea. The Ash is laxative and bitter. The keys have 
been pickled and used in salads. 
EssENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS :— 
207. Fraxinus excelstor, L.—Tree, with ashen bark, leaves smooth, 
pinnate, with a terminal leaflet, plants dicecious, no calyx or corolla, 
stamens in clusters in axils. 
Great Bindweed (Calystegia sepium, Br.) 
Though a northern plant there is no evidence that this species 
is ancient, its present range being the Northern and Southern 
Temperate Zones in Europe, Siberia, N. Africa, temperate N. and 
S. America, Australia, and New Zealand. In Great Britain it does 
not grow in Cardigan, Roxburgh, Linlithgow, E. Highlands, the 
Northern Isles, but elsewhere it is general. It is found in Ireland. 
Great Bindweed is a typical inland species growing in almost every 
hedge, and is common by the roadside, where it clambers over haw- 
thorn and other hedgerow plants. Unlike the Small Bindweed, it 
is not associated in general with cultivated ground, though it may 
occur in the hedges enclosing cornfields. 
The rambling, climbing habit of Great Bindweed, which needs 
the support of a hedge or similar aid to enable it to lead an aerial 
existence, is one of its most striking features. It has a long white 
creeping root, difficult to eradicate in gardens, hence the English 
names. The stems are numerous, twining, twisted, striate or finely 
furrowed, branched, the branches being alternate. The leaves are 
arrow-shaped or angular below, acute, alternate, stalked, smooth. The 
growing part revolves from right to left against the sun, revolving 
in two hours. 
The flowers are white, bell-shaped, and large. The flower-stalks 
are 1-flowered, square-stalked, and the flowers are axillary. The 
bracts or leaflike organs enclose the calyx, and are cordate, veined, 
and purple. The flowers open for one day, and are not scented, but 
are open in the moonlight. The corolla is plaited in the bud. The 
calyx, which is 5-fid, is tubular. The limb of the corolla is scarcely 
divided, and the seeds are angular, but rarely produced. 
The plant grows to a length of 6-10 ft. It flowers in July up till 
September. It is perennial, increasing freely by division of the roots. 
The flowers are very large and conspicuous, but have no scent 
and no path-finders, so that they are little visited by insects. They 
