Fallopia convolvulus
Fallopia convolvulus, the black-bindweed or wild buckwheat, is a fast-growing annual flowering plant in the family Polygonaceae native throughout Europe, Asia and northern Africa.
Synonyms include Polygonum convolvulus L., Bilderdykia convolvulus Dumort, Fagopyrum convolvulus H.Gross, Fagopyrum carinatum Moench, Helxine convolvulus Raf., Reynoutria convolvulus Shinners, and Tiniaria convolvulus Webb & Moq. Other old folk names include bear-bind, bind-corn, climbing bindweed, climbing buckwheat, corn-bind, corn bindweed, devil's tether, and wild buckwheat.
Description
Black-bindweed is a herbaceous vine growing to long, with stems that twine clockwise round other plant stems. The alternate triangular leaves are 1.5–6 cm long and 0.7–3 cm broad with a 6–15 mm petiole; the basal lobes of the leaves are pointed at the petiole. The flowers are small, and greenish-pink to greenish white, clustered on short racemes. These clusters give way to small triangular achenes, with one seed in each achene. The flowers have 5 sepals, the 3 outer ones are larger and show a keel. It has 5 stamens and the fruit grows to 4 mm long.While it superficially resemble bindweeds in the genus Convolvulus there are many notable differences; it has ocrea, which Convolvulus does not; and Convolvulus has conspicuous trumpet-shaped flowers while Black-bindweed has flowers that are unobtrusive and only about 4 mm long.