Israel wildflowers: Syrian Bindweed

Convolvulus coelesyriacus, Syrian Bindweed,
Hebrew: חבלבל סורי

Scientific name:   Convolvulus coelesyriacus Boiss.
Common name:   Syrian Bindweed
Hebrew name:   חבלבל סורי
Plant Family:   Convolvulaceae, חבלבליים


Location: Carmel, Hurshat Ha’arbaim

Life form:   Therophyte, annual
Stems:   15-40 cm, glabrescent or adpressed-puberulent; stems decumbent or ascending
Leaves:   Alternate, entire, dissected, dentate or serrate
Flowers:   Pink, violet
Fruits / pods:   Capsule
Flowering Period:   March, April, May
Habitat:   Mediterranean maquis and forest
Distribution:   Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands
Chorotype:   Mediterranean
Summer shedding:   Ephemeral


Location: Carmel, Hurshat Ha’arbaim

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.”

coelesyriacus, coelum, coel, “heaven”, syriacus, “from Syria”; heaven from Syria.
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 Boiss. is used to indicate Pierre Edmond Boissier (1810 – 1885), a Swiss botanist, explorer and mathematician