Calystegia sepium

Species of flowering plant in the family Convolvulaceae

Calystegia sepium (hedge bindweed, Rutland beauty, bugle vine, heavenly trumpets, bellbind, granny pop out of bed and many others) is a species of flowering plant in the family Convolvulaceae. It has a subcosmopolitan distribution throughout temperate regions of the North and South hemispheres.

Hedge bindweed is an herbaceous perennial that twines in a counter clockwise direction to a height of up to The leaves are arranged alternately on the spiralling stem; they are dull green above and paler below, simple and sagittate (arrowhead shaped), long and broad. The flowers are white, sometimes with pink windows, produced from late spring to the end of summer (between July and September in northern Europe). The buds are enclosed by large ( long), ovate lanceolate, green bracteoles with keels and burgundy margins; during anthesis they do not (or scarcely) overlap. The open flowers are trumpet shaped, diameter. After flowering, the fruit develops as an almost spherical capsule, which is hidden by the bracts. It is in diameter, containing two to four large, dark brown,

There are several species of Calystegia which occur in similar habitats and can be difficult to distinguish, especially when not in flower. It is common practice in Britain to treat C. sepium, C. silvatica and C. pulchra as an aggregate, usually recorded as "C. sepium agg. ", whenever identification is uncertain. The use of this term sometimes creates confusion about which taxon is being discussed. The best way to separate hedge bindweed (sepium) from the other taxa is by the bracteoles, which subtend the flower and wholly or partially encompass the sepals. Hedge bindweed has two rather long, narrow bracteoles which do not touch each other, whereas both large bindweed (silvatica) and hairy bindweed (pulchra) have shorter, wider bracteoles which overlap where they meet. devil's guts and hedgebell. and the success of its creeping rhizomes (they can be as long as ) cause it to be a persistent weed and have led to its classification in some American states as a noxious weed. C. sepium is highly sensitive to glyphosate, a systemic herbicide, but eradication may require several doses.

Calystegia silvatica, giant bindweed, is sometimes treated as a subspecies of C. sepium
Convolvulus arvensis, field bindweed, is a similar vine with much smaller features. The rear margin leaf projections are sharp. The leaves of Ipomoea pandurata, wild potato vine, are shaped like a heart, not like an arrowhead.