Scientific name: Calystegia sepium (L.) R. Br.
Common name: Hedge Bindweed
Description
Habit: A perennial climber, climbing to 2 m.
Stems: Trailing or twining stems, with some short hairs; with far-creeping rhizomes.
Leaves: Alternate, entire, stalked, undivided, triangular with sagittate base, 7-10 cm long.
Flowers: White, rarely pink with white stripes, solitary, 3-6 cm across, actinomorphic, hermaphrodite, axillary; each flower with 2 large, non-inflated, over-lapping bracteoles below the calyx and about as long as it; sepals 5; corolla of 5 fused petals, much larger than calyx, broadly funnel-shaped, lobed with an entire margin; stamens 5; style solitary, stigmas 2, ovary superior.
Fruits: A 4-seeded capsule.
Habitat: Hedges, woodland edges and waste ground.
Distribution: C. sepium sepium is widely distributed and occasional to frequent; frequent on the Aran Islands (introduced) but not recorded on Inishbofin; C. sepium roseata is found only near the coast and on Inishbofin and north of Kilbrickan.
Native status: C. sepium roseata is native in the region, C. sepium sepium, doubtfully.
Of conservation interest: No
Subspecies:
Calystegia sepium subsp. sepium
C. sepium subsp. roseata Brummitt
Subsp. roseata differs by its hairy stems, leaf-stalks and pedicels and also by its larger pink, white-striped flowers.