Bindweed in a field

Field bindweed is a morning glory but also an invasive perennial that regrows from root, rhizome, stem, and seed. Plowing merely spreads it. Its roots descend thirty feet and its seeds will wait dormant in the soil for twenty years. It entwines, topples, and chokes out native species. The stubbornness of this plant, its persistence, should be a subject of legend and fable. Instead, the shape of its flower inspired the folktale in which Mother Mary uses its flower, Our Lady’s Little Glass, to drink wine.