CONVOLVULACEAE (C' ONVOLVULUS FAMILY) 323 
be broken up with the plow and hogs may be turned in — with 
snouts in working order —for the purpose of turning out and 
eating the succulent roots, of which they are very fond. Sheep 
pasturing on infested ground will also keep leaf-growth down and 
will starve the underground growth. 
HEDGE BINDWEED 
Convoloulus sepium, L. 
Other English names: Great Bindweed, Bracted Bindweed, Hedge 
Lily, Rutland Beauty, Devil’s Vine. 
Native. Perennial. Propagates by seeds and by rootstocks. 
Time of bloom: June to August. 
Seed-time: Late July to October. 
Range: Nova Scotia to Minnesota, southward to the Carolinas, 
Missouri, and Nebraska, 
Habitat: Cultivated ground, fence rows, thickets, waste places. 
Nearly as obnoxious as the smaller Field Bindweed, and about 
as hard to control; its rootstocks, however, 
are larger and not so brittle; the trailing or 
twining stems are three to ten feet or more 
in length. Leaves smooth, long, triangular 
halberd-shaped, the basal lobes diverging and 
truncate; petioles slender, usually shorter 
than the blades. Flowers solitary, about 
two inches long, the corollas flaring funnel- 
shaped, pink, with white stripes, or clear 
white, lifted on slender axillary four-angled 
peduncles, often five or six inches in length. 
Just below the flower and overlapping and 
concealing its five-lobed calyx is a pair 
of large, heart-shaped bracts, which are 
persistent and enfold the fruit. Capsule 
globular and may contain four seeds, but 
often only two or three are fertile; the 
seeds are angular kidney-shaped, about an 
eighth of an inch long, dark brown. They 
retain vitality for several years. (Fig. gente ga feet ae 
225.) sepium). Xk. 
