THE CONVOLVULUS FAMILY 
53 
I. BINDWEED. (CALYSTEGIA. R. Brown.) — Flowers showy, trumpet-shaped, blue, purple, 
pink, white, or pale yellow, solitary in the axils of the leaves, with 2 large leaf-like bracts 
embracing the base of each flower and nearly hiding the calyx. Calyx of 5 sepals, free or 
partially united, often unequal, free from and inserted below the seedcase (inferior) ; corolla of 5 
petals, united almost to the top into a trumpet-shaped tube with 5 shallow lobes, 5-plaited, 
inserted below the seedcase (hypogynous) ; stamens 5, inserted in the corolla-tube (epi-petalous) ; 
carpels 2, with a single style and 2 stigmas ; fruit a capsule, 2-celled below and i-celled at the top, 
each cell containing 1 or 2 large seeds, decaying to free the seeds, or opening by 2 valves united 
at the top. Slender twining or prostrate herbs with a milky juice. 
(1) Great Bindweed. (Calyst^gia sepium.) — Flowers 2 inches across, pure white; bracts 
pointed, heart-shaped at base ; stigmas egg-shaped or oblong ; leaves large, long, and 
pointed ; stems long, climbing. 
(2) Sea Bindweed. (Calystdgia Soldanel'la.) — Flowers i£ inches across, pink; bracts blunt, 
egg-shaped ; stigmas longer and more pointed ; leaves small, short and blunt ; stems 
short, not climbing. 
1. Great Bindweed, Large Wild Convolvulus. (Calystegia s6pium. R. Brown.)— 
As just described. A weed well known for the beauty of its large pure white flowers, its twisting 
stem which often strangles the plant on which it climbs, and its white fleshy root, which creeps 
at a considerable depth in the soil, and is extremely difficult to get rid of where it is once well 
established. The flowers are often 2 inches across and are borne on square stalks ; the bracts are 
heart-shaped (cordate) and pointed, and are as large as or larger than the sepals, and completely 
envelop the flower when in bud ; the stigmas are oblong or egg-shaped ; the stem often climbs 
to the height of 5 feet ; and the leaves are large, egg-shaped, triangular, and arrow-shaped at the 
base. {Volvulus sepium. /unger ; Convolvulus sepium. Linn.) {Plate 20. 
Common. In fields, cultivated and waste ground, hedges, and bushy places ; very common 
in England and Ireland, local in Scotland. June — October. Perennial. 
2. Sea Bindweed op Convolvulus. (Calystegia Soldanel'la. R. Brown.)— A species 
with similar-shaped flowers to the last, about i£ inches across, pale rose-colour with crimson 
or yellow stripes, on square winged stalks, with blunt egg-shaped bracts below each flower ; the 
stigmas longer and more pointed ; the stems not twining or climbing, prostrate, often only 
a few inches long ; the leaves small, fleshy, roundish or kidney-shaped, with round or angular 
lobes at the base ; and the root slender and creeping to a considerable length in the sand. 
{Volvulus Soldanella. Junger ; Convolvulus Soldanella. Linn!) 
Not uncommon on sandy sea-shores in England, Ireland, and southern Scotland. June — August. 
Perennial. 
II. BINDWEED. (CONVOLVULUS. Linn.) — A genus chiefly differing from the last in having 
2 small bracts low down on the flowering stalk instead of large ones enveloping the calyx, and 
in the capsule being definitely 2-celled. 
Lesser Bindweed, Field Convolvulus. (Convol vulus arven'sis. Linn.)— The 
only British species. A little plant as well known for its destructive twining stems and creeping 
roots as the Great Bindweed. The flowers are smaller, i-r \ inches across, and with a shorter 
tube, pale pink or white, with darker red stripes, usually 2 together in the axils of the leaves, 
sometimes only 1, and rarely 3-6 ; the 2 bracts are narrow and small, about halfway down 
the flowering stalk ; the stigmas are long and narrow, both longer and narrower than in the Sea 
