FIELD BINDWEED - ONE OF THE WORST WEEDS, BUT WITH MEDICINAL BENEFITS


FIELD BINDWEED, CONVOLVULUS ARVENSIS
Field bindweed was a common plant where I grew up in South Wales, but we simply called it “convolvulus.” It has pretty white trumpet-shaped flowers  which are rather like those of Coccinia indica or Khochoper , the ivy gourd, and the orange ones of the Trumpet Vine), but my grandfather told me they were called snake flowers and I wasn’t to pick them because snakes might live in the canopies they created with their twining vines. My daughter was fascinated by these flowers too, but could never remember the name for them. We always thought they were a British native plant, but it seems that they originated in the warmer Mediterranean climes.
  These members of the Convolvulaceae also grow in the Indian subcontinent, and in the Khyber-Pakhtoonkwa province of Pakistan they roots of Field bindweed are used as a rinse after washing hair in order to get rid of dandruff.
  The name convolvulus comes from the Latin “convolvere” meaning to twine and arvensis means of the field or cultivated land. The stems of this plant can grow to around two metres long and they can twine in a total revolution in less than 2 hours, making them a very rapid-growing plant. The roots burrow deep into the soil too, making it a difficult plant to eradicate. In the US it is classed as an invasive species in all states except Alaska, where it is probably too cold for it to proliferate. It was actually introduced in to North America in the early 18th century as an ornamental and probably for its medicinal properties too. Some theorize that it got to North America as an adulterant in seeds, but whatever the case, the Native Americans soon realized its medicinal potential and used it to reduce excessive menstrual flow and for spider bites. For these problems they used a tisane of the leaves, which are apparently edible and used like spinach in parts of Turkey, where they are also used as a flavouring for some dishes. The flowers are made into a tisane which is used internally as a laxative and for fevers, to promote sweating and so reduce the temperature, and externally to put on wounds. The juice of the root is also used for fevers, and the Arabs used the roots and leaves to stop haemorrhages.
  In Europe there are various superstitions about this plant, one is my grandfather’s that vipers make their nests under it, and in other parts of Britain it is said that if a young woman picks the flowers of the Field bindweed, the object of her affections will die. Another superstition is that if you pick the flowers there will be a thunder storm, and it is called the “thunder flower” for this reason.
  Dioscorides in the 1st century AD believed that this plant could stop internal bleeding and help in the healing of wounds.
  One study exists: Meng, X. L. et al. December 2002, “Effects of a high molecular mass Convolvulus arvensis on tumour growth and angiosperm” P.R. Health Science Journal, Vol. 21 (4) pp 323-328. However the results are inconclusive as the extracts of the plant did not kill cancer cells in an in vitro culture, but, according to the researchers, “inhibited tumour growth in mice” by approximately 70 %.
  The whole plant produces a green dye, and the stems can be used to tie up other plants, such as tomatoes, but they are not durable.
  This plant was once used for medicine, but these uses seem to have been forgotten as it is now viewed as a menace, especially in field with crops.

12 comments:

  1. Very interesting. Considering how much of this plant I've got in my back yard, maybe I should start eating 'morning glory' salads! Nice to know it has medicinal properties too.

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    1. This is not the same as morning glory. They have a larger stem and larger flowers.

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    2. Cook it as spinach Heather. I want to try it, if it comes back as I have just weedkiller it. I grew up in the believe that it was poisonous. I wonder why the adults in those days said that?

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  2. Good to read something positive about this bane of my garden. I go round my garden a few times a day wrinking it out as carefully as I can so as to get as much root as possible. These then go unceremonously into the bin....

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  3. Ovarian cancer 'WENT' ....... a short post in > http://www.medicalNEWStoday.com/opinions/9956 (which mostly is about GINGER killing ovarian ((one woman taking ginger and chemo- got off the ginger - cancer started coming back in blood test - got back on the ginger & it went way down again - when she was OFF the chemo))..... but one woman said she went to a Shamen herb doctor in the Midwest, who said to take BINDWEED Tincture , 1 time a day, for ONE YEAR - she did & the cancer 'WENT"

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  4. Ovarian cancer 'WENT' ....... a short post in > http://www.medicalNEWStoday.com/opinions/9956 (which mostly is about GINGER killing ovarian ((one woman taking ginger and chemo- got off the ginger - cancer started coming back in blood test - got back on the ginger & it went way down again - when she was OFF the chemo))..... but one woman said she went to a Shamen herb doctor in the Midwest, who said to take BINDWEED Tincture , 1 time a day, for ONE YEAR - she did & the cancer 'WENT

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  5. seeking edible plantas and flowers..specially info about bindweed...I'll try the "bindweedspinach" and let you know.- thnkyou!!
    Tina, The Netherlands.140614.

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  6. I have been studying the herbs in my yard for the last few years but always considered this a pest and thought it was toxic. But the other day I stayed realizing that plants/weeds that are very tenacious are so because we need them so much. So I decided to research what we call morning glory, but I now find is called bindweed.
    I'm happy to see all the medicinal qualities of this plant. I have it in profuse amounts throughout my yard.
    Thanks for the great info.

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  7. I was thinking the same thing. I have so much of it, maybe it could be useful somehow. Purslane grows by the buckets in my yard, I occasionally put the leaves in a salad. I've tried steaming it like spinach and it does have a similar taste but psychologically it's hard for me to eat since I hate pulling them out!

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  8. Your pictures are of hedge bindweed that is edible, not Field bindweed. See the difference
    https://oregonstate.edu/dept/nursery-weeds/feature_articles/vines/vine_weeds.html

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  9. (actually you interchanged pictures of the 2 different plants, the field and the hedge bindweeds.)
    Everyone agrees that the hedge bindweeds are edible, but there's mixed reviews about the field bindweeds.

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  10. I wonder if the bright blue "morning glory" flowers would dye blue, or would maybe enhance the green of the whole plant dye over the more common pink variety?

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