Hedge Bindweed, Morning Glory
Calystegia sepium
Family Convolvulaceae

Characteristics:
* Leaves arrowhead-shaped with blunt basal lobes, 2-5".
* Flowers white or pink, 2".
* A spreading vine that can grow to several feet in length.

Natural History:
* Flowers May - September.
* Habitat: Thickets, meadows, and roadsides.
* Range: Throughout the United States.
* Introduced from Europe.

Connections!
* Bindweed is a spreading, curling vine that depends on other structures, such as plants or fenceposts, for support. It has several strategies for climbing to reach the sunlight. Observation has shown that the tips of the vines rotate in the air every two hours in search of new supports. Also, it seems that in order to reduce competition for light from other plants, bindweed releases toxins into the soil that limits the growth of competitors.

* "Well named morning glory. Its broad, bell and trumpet-shaped flowers, faintly tinged with red, are like the dawn itself."
-Henry David Thoreau, 1854