Bindweed Traditional Cache

Bindweed is near the cache. There is more further along the lane, which is very uneven and gives a bumpy ride. This is a fabulous spot from dawn to dusk, but Morning glories only until early afternoon.

Convolvulus is a genus of about 200 to 250 species of flowering plants in the bindweed family Convolvuaceae, with a cosmopolitan distribution. Common names include bindweed and morning glory, both names shared with other closely related genera, native to Europe and Asia. It is a climbing or creeping herbaceous perennial plant  growing to 0.5–2 m high. 

They are annual or perennial herbaceous vines, bines and (a few species of) woody shrubs, growing to 0.3–3 m tall. The leaves are spirally arranged, and the flowers trumpet-shaped, mostly white or pink, but blue, violet, purple or yellow in some species.

Many of the species are problematic weeds, which can swamp other more valuable plants by climbing over them, but some are also cultivated for their attractive flowers. Some species are globally threatened.

Convolvulus arvensis (field bindweed) is a species of bindweed in the morning glory family (Convolvulaceae), native to Europe and Asia. It is a climbing or creeping herbaceous perennial plant growing to 0.5–2 m high.

Although it produces attractive flowers, it is often unwelcome in gardens as a nuisance weed due to its rapid growth and choking of cultivated plants. It was most likely introduced into North America as a contaminant in crop seed as early as 1739, as an invasive species. Plants typically inhabit roadsides, grasslands and also along streams. Its dense mats invade agricultural fields and reduce crop yields; it is estimated that crop losses due to this plant in the United States exceeded US$377 million in the year 1998 alone.

A native of Eurasia, field bindweed was probably introduced to the United States in the 1700s by the early colonists of Virginia. By 1900 it had spread throughout the West and is now considered a noxious weed in forty-five states. In the United States, field bindweed is a principal weed in corn, sugar beets, wheat, and vineyards. In temperate countries, it infests these and dozens of other crops. Field bindweed is a serious problem in dry regions, since its roots can reduce soil moisture below the wilting point of many crop plants. In fact, it prefers dry soil and is rarely a problem in wet land or heavily irrigated crops. It grows best in rich fertile soil but adapts well to poor, gravelly ground, especially noncultivated land and waste areas. Besides competing for nutrients and water, field bindweed can pull plants to the ground and smother them completely. Vines often become tangled in harvesting equipment. Field bindweed is also called combine, lesser bindweed, barbine, creeping jenny, and devil's guts. Convolvulus is a Latin word meaning "to turn around," and the species name arvensis means "field."

Part of why it is so hard to get rid of bindweed is that it has a large and hardy root system. Single attempts to remove bindweed roots will not be successful. When controlling bindweed, the first thing to remember is that you will need to make several attempts of the bindweed control method you choose several times before you can successfully kill bindweed.

The cache is a tied in, camoed "micro" pill bottle. This is the push down Hard, both to open and close, kind. It holds a rolled log, that's kept tight with a rubber band. They fit in a tiny zip lock plastic bag, which in turn goes in the cache. Please make sure you keep track of it all, so you can get it back the way you found it. BYOP and no tweezers, please, they kill the plastic.