2 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



appears to be of but local occurrence in Scotland. Like the 

 common species already referred to.it is, in spite of its delicate 

 beauty, a great nuisance to the farmer and gardener, as its 

 roots are very long and fragile, while its twining stems 

 travel in great masses for many feet over plants which, in 

 the gardener's eyes, are of considerably higher value. The 

 leaves of the bindweed are large, but somewhat thin and 

 delicate in texture ; like the foliage of all the species of 

 the genus, they are found singly on the stem. From the 

 axil of the leaf springs the peduncle, or flower-stalk ; each 

 stalk, as may be clearly seen in the illustration, bears but 

 one blossom. The flowers are large and, from their snowy 

 whiteness, very conspicuous. They vary at times, we are 

 told, to a slight shade of pink ; but such variation is 

 exceedingly uncommon. The plant has been familiar to us 

 for over a quarter of a century, and we have never found it 

 bearing other than white blossoms of a perfectly unsullied 

 purity. The calyx is completely hidden by the two large 

 heart-shaped bracts that enclose it a feature that has to 

 some botanists suggested the name of hooded bindweed, 

 and which has led to its being placed in a different genus 

 to the smaller bindweed, or field convolvulus. This latter, 

 we have seen, is the Convolvulus arveusis, while the plant 

 \ve now illustrate is, botanically, the Calystegia sejjiuM 

 the generic name being derived from two Greek words 

 signifying " beautiful covering " a name bestowed on the 

 plant fiom these large bracteal envelopes of the true calyx 

 which is within them. The plant is by many old writers 

 called the hedge-bell, a descriptive and appropriate name ; 

 it is often, too, in the works of these authors called 

 the withwind, a name still in use in many country 

 districts, and which refers to the lightness of its large 



