108 



THE INDIANA WEED BOOK. 



noonday sun. God pity him who sees no beauty in a wild morning- 

 glory, fresh from its natal bud ! 



71. Ipomcea pandtjrata L. 



N. 2.) 



Wild Sweet-potato. Man-of-the-Earth. (P. 



Stems long and stout, 2-12 feet long, trailing or twining from a huge 

 fleshy root; leaves broadly ovate, pointed, heart-shaped at base, 2-6 inches 

 long, sometimes constricted at sides so as to be fiddle-shaped. Flower- 

 stalks long, 1-5 flowered; corolla funnel-form, 2-.°> inches long, white or 

 with purplish stripes in the throat. Capsule egg-shaped. 2—1 seeded, the 

 seeds densely woolly on the margins. (Fig. 73.) 



Common in dry or sandy soils, especially in river bottom fields, 

 though often in uplands. May-Sept. The vine or visible part 



gives little sign of the great 

 #^ amount of available food stored 

 in the fleshy root which is often 

 two or more feet long and some- 

 times weighs 35 pounds. Such a 

 root, buried deep in the soil, 

 sends out many runners where 

 the plant has fairly established 

 itself and makes it very difficult 

 to exterminate. Remedies : 

 deep cutting and salting; re- 

 peated mowing for two or three 

 years. 



The true wild morning-glories, 

 of which there are three species 

 in the State, are much less 

 troublesome as weeds, though oft- 

 en occurring in numbers in lowland sandy fields. The most com- 

 mon of these are the small white-flowered species (I. lacunosa L.) 

 with heart-shaped leaves and white corolla about -J inch long, and 

 the ivy-leaved morning-glory (/. hederacea Jacq.), the leaves deeply 

 3-lobed and flowers H inches long, light blue or purple with white 

 tube. Both arc annuals and can be destroyed by pulling or cutting 

 before seeding. 



72. Convoltulus skimum L. Hedge Bindweed. Bracted Bindweed. 

 Devtfs Vine. (P. N. 1.) 

 Stems widely trailing or twining. .°>-10 feel long; leaves slender- 

 stalked, triangular or arrow-shaped, pointed. 2-5 inches long. Flowers 

 about 2 inches long, solitary on long axillary sUilks, pink with white 

 stripes or wholly white; calyx with two large bracts •',' inch long at base. 



Fig. 73. Flowering branch; a, root; 6, fruit; c, seed 

 with woolly margins. (After Watson.) 



