Flora of New Zealand Series

pink bindweed

Rhizomes extensive. Stems glabrous or puberulent at first. Petioles 1.5-8 cm long, generally puberulent. Lamina 3-14-(17) × 2.5-9-(11) cm, usually triangular- or ovate-sagittate, glabrous or puberulent near base; sinus deep and rounded, usually with diverging sides; basal lobes usually rounded or obtuse, rarely acute, sometimes with small subsidiary lobule; apex acute to short-acuminate. Fls solitary; peduncles 3-12 cm long, puberulent or glabrous, ridged or very narrowly winged. Bracts 1.25-3 × 1-1.5 cm, broad-ovate, not imbricate or only slightly so; base rounded or cordate; apex usually obtuse and mucronate. Sepals 12-15 mm long, lanceolate-ovate. Corolla (3)-5-6-(7) cm long; limb 4-6 cm diam., usually pink with white mid-petaline bands, rarely all white. Stamens 2-2.5 cm long; filaments hairy in lower 1/2. Ovary 1-locular. Style > stamens. Capsules c. 1 cm long, subglobose. Seed ± triangular-ovoid with rounded outer surface and ± flat on inner faces, dark brown to almost black.

N.: very common in many areas; S.: Marlborough, Nelson.

N. and S. temperate zones.

Swamps, lakesides, banks, forest margins, roadsides, waste places.

FL Sep-Feb.

The taxonomy of C. sepium is confused and, although it is difficult to precisely determine N.Z. material at subspecific level, 2 entities can be distinguished. Neither is identical to any named intraspecific taxon in the N. Hemisphere.

(a) `pink-flowered bindweed'. This is a variable plant which generally has pink fls (rarely white) 5-7 × 4.5-6 cm, hairy petioles and young stems, and grows in moist places. It was collected by Banks and Solander and is probably indigenous. Pink bindweed is the commonest form of C. sepium in N.Z. Such plants correspond fairly closely with subsp. roseata Brummitt from W. Europe, but do not exactly match any European subsp. [Ogden, J., New Zealand J. Bot. 16: 123-140 (1978)]. (Origin biostatusOrigin='Also indigenous to N. and S. temperate zones'/>).

(b) `small white-flowered bindweed'. This entity is glabrous and has white fls only 3 × 4 cm. It is probably an introduced form and is similar to the European subsp. sepium. It has only been collected occasionally (e.g., CHR 82775, Petone, Wellington, Healy, Feb. 1953). (Probably Europe, 1988).

The situation is further complicated by the occurrence of hybrids. Ogden (loc. cit.) suggested that there has been hybridism with both C. silvatica and C. turguriorum, as well as between the indigenous and native elements of C. sepium itself. There are also hybrids with C. soldanella (e.g., CHR 243409, Doubtless Bay, near Mangonui, N. Auckland, Sykes, 9.12.1981).