Hedge Bindweed

Hedge Bindweed
Hedge Bindweed. Calystegia sepium.
Convolvulaceae, the morning-glory family.

Description:
Plant: Twining or trailing vine, to 9', with large white or pinkish funnel-shaped flowers. Perennial.
Flowers: White to pinkish, funnel-shaped, with five-fold symmetry, 1.5"-2.5" across, borne singly on long stems in leaf axils. When pinkish, the flowers often display a white star Calyx is five lobed and enclosed by a pair of leaf-like bracts. Flowers have two stigmas.
Leaves: Alternate, oblong to triangular with two backwards-pointing lobes, 2"-4" long. The technical term for the arrowhead shape is sagittate.
Fruit: An ovoid capsule
Blooming: June-September
Habitat: Thickets, roadsides, moist areas along streams.

Comments: A native species, similar to Field Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis), in overall appearance but generally about twice as large, and with two stigmas instead of one. It is sometimes a troublesome weed, and difficult to eradicate due to the deeply buried, fleshy roots. Formerly placed in the genus Convolvulus it has recently been reclassified.

Where to find it: Not common in the park. I have found it growing in the thicket beside the branch trail that leads from the paved shoreline trail to the parking lot area.