BINDWEED is a plant with long string like stems that twist and grow over other plants. Three bindweeds grow in the United States. They are pests to farmers because they make harvesting of crops difficult. Their many leaves shut out the sunlight from the plants used to make food, causing them to starve to death.

The worst of the bindweeds is the European bindweed, sometimes called small-flowered morning-glory. It has white or pinkish flowers less than an inch long. Its trailing stems are as long as ten feet. Its roots go deep into the ground, sometimes more than 15 feet. It is a perennial and so comes up year after year. Its flowers measure 1.5 to 3 inches 13.8 to 7.6 centimeters) long.

Fields with a lot of bindweed must be left implanted. To kill it the farmer must cultivate the field every six days for three years with a disk harrow. Today chemicals are also used to fight this weed.

The great bindweed or hedge bindweed looks like the European bindweed but has flowers one to two and one-half inches long. It is not quite so hard to control but it is also a perennial.

Black bindweed or knot bindweed has small white flowers in spikes. It is not a perennial and so is easier to kill.

Belladonna, is a bushy plant that supplies several drugs. The most important drug obtained from the plant is atropine. Belladonna is sometimes called deadly nightshade to distinguish it from common, or black, nightshade, which is not so dangerous. It grows in Europe and Asia. Some is now raised in the United States.

Belladonna bushes are often grown in gardens for their beauty. They are from 2 to 3 feet (61 to 91 centimeters) high and have drooping, bell-shaped flowers that are blue-purple or dull red. People have died from eating the berries, which contain the belladonna drugs.

Vinegar is a simple first aid remedy for belladonna poisoning, but a physician should be called at once.

Belladonna drugs are taken from the roots, but all parts of the plant contain the drugs. They are an important antidote for poisoning with certain insecticides and mushrooms. They also are sometimes used to relieve whooping cough, colic, and various intestinal troubles. Ophthalmologists sometimes use belladonna drugs to relax eye muscles and to cause the pupil to expand. The drugs should be used only under the direction of a physician.

Blazing star is the name of a group of wild flowers They grow mainly on prairies and meadows in the eastern and midwestern United States. People sometimes call these flowers button snakeroot or gayfeather. The blazing star is a tall, slender plant from 1 to 6 feet 130 to 180 centimeters) high. Thick clusters, or heads, of small purple or rose-red blossoms grow along the stem on thin spikes up to 18 inches (46 centimeters) long. The heads are surrounded by bracts, or modified leaves, the same color as theflowers. These spikes, or wands, of blossoms resemble a shooting star, for which the flower Is named. The name blazing star has also been given to asters, goldenrods, and several thistles.

Scientific classification. Blazing stars make up the genus Liatris in the composite family, Asteraceae or Compositae.

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