Convolvulus arvensis L.
field bindweed
Rhizomatous perennial with slender, creeping or trailing, angular, usually hairy stems. Petioles 5-20-(35) mm long. Lamina (0.8)-2-4-(9) × (0.5)-1-2-(6) cm, triangular or oblong-ovate (very rarely linear), hastate or sagittate, entire, except often for pair of teeth near base, usually glabrous or sparsely hairy, rarely moderately hairy, often glaucous; sinus shallow or base ± truncate; apex rounded and mucronulate. Infl. axillary, 1-few-flowered; peduncles often = or slightly > lvs; pedicels slender, glabrous. Bracts 2-4 mm long, linear, hairy, situated > 1 cm below calyx. Sepals c. 4 mm long, obtuse, the outer ciliate and often hairy, subequal. Corolla (1.2)-1.5-2 cm long, broadly funnelform, pink or whitish, with deep pink mid-petaline bands, very rarely completely white. Stamens subequal; filaments widened and puberulent towards base. Stigmas filiform, much < style. Capsule 6-8 mm long, globose-ovoid. Seed dark, smooth.
N.: from Auckland southwards, common in the Wellington area; S.: throughout but most common in Canterbury.
N. temperate region 1880
Crops, waste places around settlements, common as a weed of pavement cracks and gutters in city streets.
FL Nov-Mar.
Field bindweed is occasionally a nuisance in cereal crops in Canterbury because the stem twines around the stalks and causes "lodging" of the crop in wet and windy weather.
