UPRIGHT BINDWEED 



Convolvulus spithameus L. 



May - June The morning glories and bindweeds belong to 



Sunny, sandy roadsides a family which is largely tropical ; this is true 



of most creeping and climl)ing plants, few of 

 which are of northern origin. But the upright bindweed is a morning 

 gloi-y which no longer climbs; it is an upright plant, seldom more than 

 a foot tall and usually less, with a few leaves and a flower or two which 

 seem to be all out of proportion to the size of the plant. 



It is a pinkish-white morning glory, with all the crisp freshness of 

 that ephemeral tribe as it opens in the early sunshine of a June morning. 

 The two-parted calyx clasps the tubular base of the widespread, bell- 

 shaped flower. It is the sort of l)lossom to Ijelong on a lush vine festooned 

 over a fence or tangling itself over a spice bush in the river bottoms. It 

 seems oddly incomplete to be found upon that low little plant. 



The leaves are long, narrow, heart-shaped, prominently veined, set 

 alternately on the downy stem. There on sandy banks or in rocky soil 

 along a road in northern Illinois, this surprising little plant — still main- 

 taining its Latin name of Convolvulus, wbich means "to entwine" — 

 opens its large flowers on its small plants from late May until August. 



The American bindweed {Cotivolvulus aincricunus) is a long vine 

 "which is common on fences^ etc. The flowers resemble those of upright 

 bindweed, above. 



163 



