320 CONVOLVULACEAE (CONVOLVULUS FAMILY) 



This plant, like the preceding one, is 

 often called Climbing Milkweed ; the milky 

 juices are poisonous. It is an immigrant 

 from Europe, first planted in gardens for 

 its beauty; but the silken-winged seeds 

 made an easy escape and now the weed is 

 a frequent nuisance in ground not under 

 cultivation. (Fig. 222.) 



Stems twining, slender, three to six feet 

 long, slightly hairy, often brownish red 

 where exposed to the light. Leaves op- 

 posite, long-ovate, thin, dark green, smooth, 

 entire, pointed at tip and rounded at base, 

 with prominent, sometimes reddish, veins 

 and short petioles. Flowers in axillary 

 cymose clusters, small, saucer-shaped, the 

 five spreading lobes somewhat twisted, 

 hairy within, deep purple; peduncles 

 shorter than the leaves. Follicles about 

 two inches long, pointed at both ends, 

 smooth. Seeds flat, brown, tipped with 

 silken floss. 



FIG 222 Black Swal- Means f control the same as for the 

 low-wort (Cynanchum ni- preceding species. It is more pernicious, 

 x i. and requires persistent treatment 



WILD SWEET POTATO VINE 

 Ipomcea pandurata, G. F! W. Mey. 



Other English names: Man-of-the-Earth, Mecha-Meck. 



Native. Perennial. Propagates by seeds. 



Time of bloom: May to September. 



Seed-time: Late June to October. 



Range: Eastern Canada and New England to Michigan and 



Kansas, southward to Florida and Texas. 

 Habitat : Dry soil ; thickets and waste places. 



The very large fleshy roots of this plant are edible and sweet, 

 and are buried very deep in the ground below the reach of frost ; 



