120 FARM WEEDS OF CANADA 



THE MORNING GLORY or CONVOLVULUS 

 FAMILY (Convolvulaceae). 



The plants of this family possess characteristics by which 

 they are easily recognized: i.e., the twining stems, the trumpet- 

 shaped flowers, and the fruits which are spherical cartilaginous 

 capsules with distinct divisions. The three following species 

 of Morning Glory are classed as weeds, besides a few varieties 

 of Dodders which are closely allied to them and represent 

 the only genus of the tribe Cuscuteae. These are curious, 

 annual, leafless parasites, occurring as loose, tangled masses of 

 fleshy threads, with clusters of flowers or small, round pods 

 at short intervals, attached to various plants from which they 

 draw their nourishment. 



FIELD BINDWEED (Convolvulus arvensis L.) 



Other English names: Bindweed, Small Bindweed, European 

 Bindweed, Small-flowered Morning Glory. 



Introduced from Europe. Perennial, deep-rooting, with 

 extensive, creeping, cord-like, fleshy rootstocks; these throw 

 up numerous slender branching and twining smooth stems, 

 which form thick mats on the surface of the land and twist 

 around any plants growing within reach, using them as supports 

 and choking them out. Leaves about 1 to 1^-inches long on 

 slender stalks, ovate or heart-shaped, arrow-shaped at base. 

 Flower-stalks slender, about the same length as the leaves, 

 provided with miniature leaves at some distance below the 

 large, open, funnel-shaped, pink flowers, which are over an inch 

 across. Fruit a round cartilaginous, 2-celled capsule, containing 

 3 to 4 seeds. 



The seed (Plate 74, fig. 55) is rather large, 1/6 of an inch long, 

 dark brown, pear-shaped; one face convex, the other bluntly 

 angled with flat sides. Surface roughened with small tubercles; 



