Israel wildflowers: Grassy Bindweed

Convolvulus pentapetaloides, Grassy Bindweed, Five-lobed bindweed,
Hebrew: חבלבל עדין, Arabic: لبلاب خماسي الفصوص

Scientific name:   Convolvulus pentapetaloides L.
Common name:   Grassy Bindweed, Five-lobed bindweed
Hebrew name:   חבלבל עדין
Arabic name:   لبلاب خماسي الفصوص
Plant Family:   Convolvulaceae, חבלבליים


Life form:   Therophyte, annual
Stems:   Prostrate, filiform; stems rather hairy at top
Leaves:   Alternate, entire
Flowers:   Light blue, dark blue, with a yellow throat, and a semi 5-cleft limb
Fruits / pods:   Capsule
Flowering Period:   April, May
Habitat:   Batha, Phrygana
Distribution:   Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Shrub-steppes, Deserts and extreme deserts
Chorotype:   Mediterranean
Summer shedding:   Ephemeral


Derivation of the botanical name:

Convolvulus, Latin, convolvere, “to twine around”; “a bindweed” (Plinius), from convolvo, volvi, volutum, ere “to droll together, roll up, intertwine.”

pentapetaloides, πεντα-, five; resembling five petals.
The Hebrew word chavalval, חבלבול. Shaul Tchernichovsky (1875 – 1943), poem: “You Are So Fragrant” (19.7.1929):… ניחוחם של חבלבלים, nichucham shel chavalvalim, fragrance of Convolvulus (Tchernichovsky’s Note: chavalval, חבלבול, Convolvulus L. Winde, Bindweed, Вьюнок).

  • The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.