Mallow bindweed
Convolvulus althaeoides
Family · Convolvulaceae · Harmless
The bright pink bell that lights up southern verges and banks in spring, over cut, silvery foliage. It is one of the prettiest flowers you find without looking.
Roadsides and waste ground · Fields and pasture · Scrubland · Walls and rocks
Also known asmallow-leaved bindweed
How to tell it
A bright pink funnel flower, four to five centimetres, with a paler centre. Leaves deeply cut into narrow segments, covered in silvery hairs. It climbs or sprawls on the ground.
What it is confused with
Field bindweed
Convolvulus arvensis
Size and leaf: this has a large deep pink flower and a leaf cut into strips; the common one has a small flower and an entire arrow leaf.
Open sheet →What it is for
None. It counts as a seasonal flower and an insect plant, and is one of the few bindweeds nobody wants to pull up.