GRAY BINDWEED
File Size: 79 KB
 
Convolvulus equitans  Benth.
Morton County, Kansas
Perennial
Height: Trailing or prostrate
Family: Convolvulaceae - Morning Glory Family
Flowering Period:   April, May, June, July, August, September
Also Called: Texas bindweed.
Stems: Up to 6 feet long, trailing to decumbent, grayish-green, pubescent with matted hairs; tendrils absent.
Leaves: Alternate, simple, on stalks .1 to 2 inches long, quite variable in shape, narrowly oblong with projecting basal lobes or triangular-lanceolate to ovate-elliptic, usually much longer than wide, main portion sometimes long and narrow, often deeply indented basally, .5 to 3 inches long, .1 to 1.5 inch wide, densely gray-pubescent; margins lobed or toothed, rarely entire.
Inflorescences: Flowers usually solitary, occasionally 2 or 3, on stalks in leaf axils.
Flowers: Calyx, 1/4 to 1/2 inch long, densely pubescent; corollas bell-shaped, .6 to 1.2 inches long, .75 to 1.5 inches wide, white or pink, sometimes with a reddish center; corolla margins with 5 sharp points or projections; stamens 5, slightly unequal; anthers brown; style 1; stigmas 2.
Fruits: Capsule, nearly spherical, smooth, 1-4 seeded; seeds black, glabrous.
Habitat: Dry disturbed areas, prairies, plains, and hills; sandy, loamy, or rocky soils.
Distribution: West 1/3 of Kansas.
Forage Value: Quail will eat the seeds and white-tailed deer will eat the leaves.
Comments: Gray bindweed does not form large patches like field bindweed Convolvulus arvensis.

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