Jim, are you sure you don't mean milkweed pod seeds (Asclepias) instead of morning glory/bindweed? http://www.pbase.com/salty_one/image/70700472

I guess I haven't wadded enough into a large enough lump, as I find they flash-burn so fast that they're useless.

Conifers: look for those tiny little short dead branches still attached to the tree trunk or the bases of the lower branches, the ones that are about the thickness of a pencil lead. I don't know that they will start with a firesteel, but they work well enough with a lighter. They never seem to be wet, even when it's raining.

Sue