Fallopia convolvulus

Black bindweed

Family: Polygonaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Black bindweed is a naturalized annual found in California's Foothills and Mountains and North Coast Ranges in disturbed places at elevations below 1,000 meters. Flowering from May to December, this plant produces small green-white flowers with a pinkish base, clustered in spike-like inflorescences up to 10 centimeters long. Growing with trailing or twining stems 40 to 120 centimeters long that are lightly hairy, it spreads across ground or climbs nearby vegetation. Its leaves are roughly ovate, 2 to 6 centimeters long with distinctive hastate or sagittate bases, varying from smooth to slightly rough-textured. The mature fruit is small, black, and minutely granular, measuring 4 to 5 millimeters long.

Habitat: Disturbed places

Bloom period: May-Dec

Elevation: < 1000 m

Bioregions: CA-FP, MP

California counties: Los Angeles, Sonoma, Alpine, Butte, Del Norte, Fresno, Humboldt, Kern, Lake, Lassen, Mendocino, Placer, San Bernardino, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Ventura, Yuba, Marin, Monterey, Plumas, San Francisco, Siskiyou, El Dorado, San Luis Obispo, San Diego, Riverside, Mariposa, Shasta, Yolo, Mono, Santa Cruz

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.