Hedge Bindweed - Calystegia sepium

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Description

Vigorous climbing and twining plant to 3 metres. Leaves bright green and arrow shaped. Flowers white, 30 to 50 mm. Bracts not overlapping or scarcely so.

Similar Species

Calystegia silvatica

Identification difficulty
ID checklist (your specimen should have all of these features)

Bracteoles only slightly or not overlapping; sepals beneath clearly visible

Recording advice

A side-on photograph showing bracteoles and sepals beneath

Habitat

Woods, hedges and waste places.

When to see it

June to September.

Life History

Perennial.

UK Status

Common and widespread throughout most of Britain.

VC55 Status

Common in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 429 of the 617 tetrads.

  • Graham Calow
    Sapcote
    25 September 2008
  • Graham Calow
    Hinckley Lane, Wykin
    04 July 2015
  • Paul Ruddoch
    Priors Close
    17 July 2014
  • Graham Calow
    Witherley
    15 July 2015
  • Graham Calow
    Sapcote, Land behind William Spencer Avenue
    24 July 2021
  • Graham Calow
    Sapcote, Land behind William Spencer Avenue
    24 July 2021
  • Dave Neville
    College Garth, Hathern
    23 August 2012

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2025+ | 2020-2024 | pre-2020

UK Map

Species data profile ?

Species profile

Common names
Hedge Bindweed, Great Bindweed agg.
Species group:
flowering plant
Kingdom:
Plantae
Order:
Solanales
Family:
Convolvulaceae
Records on NatureSpot:
172
First record:
01/01/2005 (Harry Ball)
Last record:
08/08/2025 (axon, kaye)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

10km squares with records

The latest images and records displayed below include those awaiting verification checks so we cannot guarantee that every identification is correct. Once accepted, the record displays a green tick.

In the Latest Records section, click on the header to sort A-Z, and again to sort Z-A. Use the header boxes to filter the list.

Latest images

Latest records

  • Graham Calow
    Sapcote
    20 September 2013
  • David Nicholls
    Watermead Country Park
    06 September 2012
  • Graham Calow
    Sapcote
    20 July 2013
  • David Nicholls
    Launde Fish Ponds
    22 September 2012
  • Graham Calow
    Sapcote
    20 September 2013
  • David Nicholls
    Ratby, Markfield Road
    05 November 2011
  • Graham Calow
    Sapcote
    25 September 2008
  • Alan Semper
    Harby, path G55A
    13 September 2012
  • Alan Semper
    Harby, path G55A
    13 September 2012
  • Graham Calow
    Hinckley Lane, Wykin
    04 July 2015
  • David Nicholls
    Watermead Country Park
    27 September 2013
  • Paul Ruddoch
    Melton Mowbray Country Park
    19 July 2014
Photo of the association

Bedellia somnulentella

The larvae of the moth Bedellia somnulentella feed on Bindweed and related species, initially in an inconspicuous narrow and very contorted gallery.  The egg is oval, not round as with Stigmella species. Later instars leave the gallery and feed in a transparent blotch mine. The rear end of the larva sticks out of the undersurface of the leaf, and threads of frass hang beneath the mine, caught in a loose net of silk.   Early instar larvae from the galleries are whitish; later instars have purplish spots and markings.