Bearbind

Convolvulus sepium

COMMON NAMES

• Bearbind
• Bindweed
• Hedge Bind Weed
• Old Man's Nightcap

Bearbind - perennial herbaceous plant with a climbing, coiling stem bearing alternating leaves. Trumpet-shaped flowers are white or pale pink with white stripes. The seed is a capsule, and the root a fleshy tubercle that forms at the end of the stem, drops off in fall to spend the winter underground.

Its scientific name comes from the Latin words convolvere, "to entwine," and sepes, "a hedge," and that is indeed how bearbind, or hedge bindweed, grows. In hedges or thickets or gardens, wherever it can twine itself, the bearbind spirals, usually counterclockwise, around a neighboring plant or a fence for its support.

As a medicinal plant, bearbind has been valued for the powerful laxative effect of its roots, stem, and leaves. It was also used in folk medicine as a remedy for jaundice.

A relative of the common morning glory (Ipomoea purpurea), bearbind is one of the commonest weeds in North America and one of the prettiest. But gardeners do not welcome it, because it strangles neighboring plants, and its huge root system depletes the soil.

Bearbind is just one member of a large family that also includes field bindweed, sea bindweed, jalap bindweed (found in Mexico and South America), and Syrian bindweed (also known as scammony). To a greater or lesser degree these plants have the same cathartic properties, and they also have other characteristics in common: their lovely trumpet shaped flowers-ranging in color from the white of bearbind to the crimson of jalap, the red-striped rose of sea bindweed, and the sulfur yellow of scammony-and the fact that the flowers of some species close on gray days when the sun does not shine.

PARTS USED

Flowers, root, stem.

USES

The dried rhizomes (underground stems), roots, and leaves have been used in the preparation of laxatives and remedies for gallbladder problems. There is no evidence to substantiate that these uses are valid.

HABITAT AND CULTIVATION

Everywhere bearbind can grow, but it needs the support of taller herbs, hedges or trellises, and good acidic and moist soil.

CONSTITUENTS

Bearbind contains glucoside, chlorophyll, minerals (iron, magnesium).

APPLICATIONS

In a decoction: choose 1 of the following combined with 1 cup (250 ml) water: 3 leaves, 2 flowers or 2 g of the stem and 1 g of the root (honey can be added to take away the bitterness). The stems and the flowers act as laxatives. The leaves are also emollient and regenerating agents of the digestive system. If, in addition to being constipated, you have delicate intestines, simply bathing the hands and feet would suffice: 1 oz (30 g) for 16 cups (4 liters) water. This remedy relieves liver ailments such as ascites due to cirrhosis. The fresh sap of the plant when crushed is an effective treatment for fevers relating to infections such as tonsillitis, sinusitis, otitis, etc. Take 1 T (15 ml) juice, 3 times daily for 3 to 7 days.
A mother tincture made from the root is used primarily to treat hepatic constipation.

THREE-FLOWER LAXATIVE

• 2 T (5 g) bearbind flowers
• 2 T (5 g) mallow flowers
• 2 T (5 g) common elder flowers
• 3 cups (750 ml) pure water

Simmer the flowers in water for 3 minutes, cover and infuse for 15 minutes. Strain and drink between meals to fight constipation.

COMMENTS