Purple bindweed flower

Those of you who were reading this blog a couple of months ago may remember the pictures of a purple bindweed vine and scarlet spiderling, in both of which purple bindweed flowers played featureless but bright supporting roles in the background. Today you’ll get a better look at that flower, Ipomoea cordatotriloba, because I found a bunch of them on the same noisy embankment of the US 183 freeway that yielded the photographs of the buffalo gourd in the last few posts. What you see here is the typical puckered look that a purple bindweed flower takes on when it begins to close and is on its way to shriveling.

Of the many wildflowers in central Texas, purple bindweed has one of the longest blooming periods, beginning in the spring and lasting into December. Not only that, but this species seemed immune to 2011’s record drought, and I saw purple bindweed flowering all over town just about every time I went out photographing. For more information about this hardy species, including a state-clickable map showing where it grows, you can visit the USDA website.

© 2011 Steven Schwartzman