Twines on Plants, Bears them Down.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 143, 18 June 1931, Page 8

Twines on Plants, Bears them Down.

Nature Notes.

By

James Drummond , F.L.S.. F.Z.S.

'JMiE LARGE heart-shaped or arrow-head leaves of the cornbind bring it into greater disrepute than it deserves. They are like the leaves of the convolvulus, and many people mistake it for that much worse weed, a nuisance in fields ind gardens which, in England, has cornbind for ts other name, also bindweed and, more poeticaly, morning glory. The cornbind is called cornbind on account o f ts habit of twining itself round the stems of wheat and other plants and bearing them down by its weight. Instead of the handsome, pinky, bell-shaped flowers of the convolvulus, it has small, green, inconspicuous flowers. Instead of creeping underground stems, it has tap--oots, which may be easily pulled up. In England, it is regarded as a mischievous weed. Dr F. W.

Hilgendorf states that in New Zealand it is a serious weed in only wheat-growing areas. It can be eradicated from gardens by attention to young plants before they begin to twine.