[Illustration: TEXAS BINDWEED PURPLE MORNING-GLORY]
Plants twining or erect; sepals 5; corolla mostly funnelform, 5-lobed;
stamens 5, on corolla tube; ovary superior; fruit usually a ball-shaped
capsule separating into 2-4 lobes.
Texas Bindweed (_Convolvulus hermannioides_) has small white
morning-glory flowers with a dark-red center. They are seldom more than
an inch broad. The spreading or twining vines reach a length of several
feet. The leaves are very variable in shape and often have spreading
lobes at each side of the base like the hoary bindweed (_Convolvulus
incanus_). Both grow on Texas plains, but the hoary bindweed is widely
distributed from Kansas and Arkansas to Mexico. The Texas bindweed may
be distinguished by the ear-like projections at the base of the sepals.
The flowers bloom from April to August.
Purple Morning-Glory. Bindweed. Tie-Vine (_Ipomoea trifida_) is a lovely
but pernicious vine of Texas, Mexico, and tropical America. The roots
are perennial and very difficult to eradicate from cotton and corn
fields. It blooms from spring to fall, the flowers opening only in the
morning. The morning-glory group is very large, and many showy forms are
found in Texas. The sweet potato (_Ipomoea batatas_) and others are
valued for their tuberous roots.
[Illustration: STANDING CYPRESS BLUE GILIA WHITE GILIA]