DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

CANADA

I9O6

LIBRARY

OF THE

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.

Gl FT OF

Class

\

Donated by,-

The Department of Agriculture, Ottawa.
For use as a reference l»ook on farm weeds,
and to remain the property of,-

DOMINION OF CANADA
Department of Agriculture

BRANCH OF THE SEED COMMISSIONER

Farm Weeds of Canada

BY

GEORGE H. CLARK, B.S.A.

> i <
AND

JAMES FLETCHER, LL.D., F.R.S.C., F.L.S.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY

NORMAN GRIDDLE

OF THE

( UNIVERSITY )

OF

PUBLISHED BY DIRECTION OF

THE HON. SYDNEY A. FISHER, MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE
OTTAWA, 1908

To THE HONOURABLE SYDNEY A. FISHER,

Minister of Agriculture,
Ottawa, Canada :

SIB, — I have the honour to submit herewith a special bulletin on the
farm weeds of Canada, prepared in accordance with your instructions. The
text of this bulletin is by Dr. James Fletcher, Entomologist and Botanist
to the Dominion Experimental Farms, and the illustrations were made in
water-colour from actual specimens, under his supervision by Mr. Norman
Griddle, of Aweme, Man., while employed by the Seed Branch.

Incalculable losses are annually sustained by farmers on account of the
prevalence of noxious weeds. The cost of the labour needed to control and
eradicate them has become a serious problem in farm management.

There are many means by which weeds become disseminated. Weed
seeds are carried by the waters of rivers and creeks. Transportation com-
panies, especially the railway companies, are responsible for the introduction
of many new weeds. The wind and animals of various kinds do much to
spread weed seeds in a locality. The results of investigation work conducted
by this Branch clearly show that the commerce in agricultural seeds is an
exceedingly fruitful medium for the distribution of weeds from field to field
and from province to province.

In the Seed Laboratory all kinds of seeds are tested free of charge to
farmers. The reports issued thereon give the names of weed seeds found in
the samples sent for test, but the mere names of weeds frequently have no
meaning to persons who are not expert in the nomenclature of plants. In
consequence most new weeds become introduced and well established before
their noxious character is appreciated by farmers.

The reference collections of correctly named specimens of weed seeds
that are prepared in the Seed Laboratory for distribution to seed merchants
and agricultural institutions, are used in the identification of impurities found
in commercial seeds. The illustrations of weeds and the information con-
tained in this bulletin will make these reference collections of weed seeds
more intelligible and serviceable.

Since the work of testing seeds for farmers and seed merchants was
undertaken by this Branch, many applications have been received for a bul-
letin containing illustrations of the weeds named in the Seed Control Act
and other weeds, the seeds of which were reported to be present in the sam-
ples sent for test. It was largely with a view to meet this need on the part
of farmers that I suggested to you the preparation of this illustrated bulletin
on farm weeds. I recommend that it be printed and distributed, free of
charge, on personal application, for use as a reference book in the libraries
of farm homes and rural schools.

It is a pleasant duty to record the hearty cooperation that I have nt
all times received from Dr. James Fletcher in compiling reference collections
of weed seeds and other work of this Branch, but particularly am I grateful
to him for his kindly co-operation and the deep interest he has taken in the
preparation of this bulletin.

I have the honour to be, Sir,

Your obedient servant,

GEO. H. CLAEK,
Seed Commissioner.

IRSITY

FARM WEEDS OF CANADA

BY JAMES FLETCHER, OTTAWA.

INTRODUCTORY.

The annual losses due to the occurrence of pernicious weeds upon farm
lands, although acknowledged in a general way, are far greater than is
actually realized. Where, however, a proper course of treatment based
upon an accurate knowledge of the nature of each weed is adopted, these
losses can be lessened very appreciably.

The present time seems to be particularly opportune for urging the need
of systematic and united effort on the part of all engaged in the cultivation
of the soil, in striving by every means in their power to fight against the in-
creasing prevalence of many weeds of the farm. The recent enactment of the
Seed Control Act and the very considerable losses to the farmers of the
Western Provinces owing to the presence of such a large percentage of foul
seeds in the bountiful crop of 1905, have awakened a keen interest, which,
it is hoped, will induce a closer study of those general principles which affect
the question of the introduction, spread and development of all weeds of the
farm, as well as of the methods by which even the worst of these may be
eradicated. These methods are all founded on a knowledge of the individual
nature of each kind of weed, and there is no weed known which cannot be
controlled and cleared from farm lands that are cultivated as they ought to
be, with a suitable rotation of crops and with the ordinary implements now
in use by Canadian farmers.

The subject of farm weeds and their eradication is now one of burning
interest to all cultivators of the soil in every part of the Dominion. This
interest is shown by frequent enquiries for the correct names and nature of
any strange plants found growing among crops, and for advice as to the best
means of controlling them. During the past ten years several official bul-
letins on weeds have been issued and widely distributed. In all of these
publications the same names are given for the different weeds. It is, there-
fore, clearly important that those for whose benefit the bulletins have been
prepared, should know the plants treated of by the names there used, so that
they may be able to make the fullest use of the information supplied.

In the fight against noxious weeds, the first thing of importance is to
know a weed when seen and to call it by its true name, not necessarily its
botanical name, but the name by which it' is generally known and written
about in agricultural publications. Local names, unfortunately, are very
often wrong. There are, for instance, at least half a dozen plants of quite
different habits, which are locally known under the name of "Eussian
Thistle"; "Ragwort" is a name applied to several plants; "Black Mustard",
again, is used for two or three troublesome plants of the Mustard family,
whereas the true Black Mustard is seldom seen in Canada, and has nowhere
appeared as a farm pest. "Chicory", "Milkweed" and "Bindweed" are
names applied to many different plants. It cannot be made too widely
known that anyone wishing t'o learn the names or nature of plants-found on hi."

land can send specimens post free to the Botanist of the Experimental Farm,
at Ottawa ; and full information about the plant will be forwarded to the
sender gladly and free of all charge, with as little delay as possible. It is
always better to send specimens when making enquiries, because so many
weeds are locally known by wrong names. Therefore, if information is
asked about a certain plant under a wrong name, it is very probable that the
treatment suggested may not be suitable.

Farmers give very little critical attention to the different weeds growing
amo'ng their crops. Some think that, because these plants are in a measure
unfamiliar, the exact recognition of all of them is a matter beyond their
power. This, however, is by no means the case, and, as the different kinds
vary greatly in their powers of robbing the farmer, it is certainly advisable
that more attention should be given to weed pests than has been done in the
past. Although there are several hundreds of different kinds of plants
growing wild in almost every locality and many of these may sometimes
appear among cultivated crops, there are only a few which a farmer need
trouble about — not many more than there are different kinds of crops grown ;
and every cultivator of the soil knows the difference between wheat, barley,
oats, rye, peas, turnips, beets, etc. It is no more difficult, if the importance
of the subject is recognized, to learn the names, nature and appearance at
different stages of growth, and also the seeds of Stinkweed, Hare's-ear Mus-
tard, False-flax, Canada Thistle, Field Sowthistle, Sweet Grass, Quack,
etc., than to recognize the familiar plants which have been grown for many
years as crops.

WHAT is A WEED?

There are many definitions of the word Weed, but perhaps from a far-
mer's standpoint the best one is: "any injurious, troublesome, or unsightly
plant that is at the same time useless or comparatively so." As a general
statement, it may be said that our most troublesome and aggressive weeds of
the farm have been introduced into Canada from other countries ; but it is also
true that under special circumstances some of our native wild plants may in-
crease and become "noxious weeds."

LOSSES DTJE TO WEEDS.

That the losses due to the presence of weeds upon cultivated land are
enormous, is generally understood ; but it may not be amiss here to draw
special attention to some of the ways in which these enemies injure the tiller
of the soil.

1. Weeds do great harm by robbing the soil of the plant food intended
for the crop and also of its moisture, thus increasing the effects of drought
by taking up water from the soil and wasting it by evaporation.

2. Weeds crowd out and take the place of more useful plants, being
hardier, and, as a rule, more prolific.

3. Weeds are a source of great loss. From the time farmers begin to
prepare their land for a crop, these enemies increase the cost of every opera-
tion— in ploughing, harrowing, seeding, cultivating, cutting, binding, carry-
ing and threshing, as well as in cleaning, freighting and marketing the
produce. Direct losses are the larger consumption of binder twine necessary
when weedy grain crops are harvested, and the extra wear and tear on
machinery due to coarse-growing weeds.

4. The eradication of the worst weeds is costly in labour, time and
machinery and frequently compels a farmer to change what would be the
best rotation of crops for the land, or even to grow crops which are not the
most advantageous.

5. Many weeds are conspicuous and all are unsightly on farm lands.
They thus, in a varying degree according to their several natures, depreciate
the value of land, a point which may be of great importance, should the
owner wish to sell.

6. Some weeds are injurious to stock, being poisonous as the Water
Hemlock, or injurious to their products as burs in wool, or Wild Garlic and
Stinkweed, which taint milk. The horny or barbed seeds of some grasses
cause irritation or painful wounds by penetrating the flesh and particularly
the mouth parts, as Porcupine Grass and Skunk-tail Grass in the North-west.

7. Weeds attract injurious insects or harbour fungous diseases, which
may spread to cultivated plants. It is well known that weedy stubbles or
summer-fallows are a breeding ground for cutworms and that the rust of
small grains may pass the winter on several kinds of grasses.

In view of the above, it must be acknowledged that in all parts of Can-
ada weeds are a source of constant and very considerable loss to farmers.
Indeed, so much is this the case that the great prevalence of some varieties
in certain districts of the Dominion must be viewed with the gravest alarm,
for they have taken such possession of the land as to seriously affect profit-
able farming. As examples of such aggressive enemies, mention may be
made of the Wild Mustard, Quack or Couch Grass and Canada Thistle in
parts of almost every province ; Ox-eye Daisy in the Maritime Provinces ;
Field Sowthistle in the Maritime Provinces, Quebec, Ontario and the Red
River valley in Manitoba; and Stinkweed or Penny-cress, Ball Mustard
and Hare's-ear Mustard in all the Prairie Provinces.

The increase of weeds in a district has frequently been due to the fact
that farmers have neglected them from not being aware of their noxious
nature and power to spread.

"Many of our farmers have only a limited knowledge of weeds, and m
many cases do not recognize those that are dangerous on their first appear-
ance. Hence we have 'One year's seeding, seven years weeding.' There
are some weeds so noxious that, if farmers knew their real character and
recognized the plants on their first appearance, they would postpone all other
business until they were destroyed. Self-interest should

be a sufficient incentive to farmers to destroy weeds if it is cle'arlj shown that
it will pay them to do so." — H. MACKELLAK.

A point of considerable importance with regard to noxious weeds is
the adoption, as much as possible, of some one English or common name.
The names used in this bulletin have been selected with much care as being
those which are most applicable and most widely known. When more names
than one are given, the first is preferable. The scientific names, of which
only one for each plant is recognized as authoritative by botanists all over the
world, are here given, so that the certain identity of each1 plant mentioned
may be known. Few farmers, of course, are acquainted with these scientific
terms, even in the case of our commonest weeds, but it would be well if they
were ; for certainly much confusion exists in different localities in the ap-
plication even of the English popular names, the same plant being frequently
called by one name in one place and by quite a different name elsewhere, or
quite as frequently a single name is applied to a number of distinct plants
in different places or by different people in the same place.

Ho\v WEEDS SFKEAD.

In the present age of extensive and easy communication with all parts
of the country, and indeed with the whole world, there are frequent oppor-
tunities for seeds of weeds being introduced into previously uninfested dis-
tricts.

There are many ways in which weeds are spread : —

1. By natural agencies. The wind carries the seeds long distances not
only in summer but with drifting soil and over the surface of the snow in
winter. Streams distribute them far and wide along their courses. They are
also distributed by seed-eating birds and herbivorous animals, through the
stomachs of which the seeds have passed undigested, or by being attached to
some part of their bodies by special contrivances, with which nature has
provided some seeds for this very purpose, such as hooked and barbed hairs,
spines, gummy excretions, etc.

2. By human agency. The seeds of weeds are frequently introduced
as "foul seed" mixed with other seeds, particularly in cheap, improperly
cleaned seed; they are also brought on to previously clean farms with ma-
nure from towns or are imported in hay used for packing or as fodder. In
addition to this, they are often distributed over farms by waggons, harrows,
seeders, threshing machines or other agricultural implements. As an offset
against the great benefits we derive from railways, it has been found that
many bad weeds have been introduced into new localities through their
agency, the seeds being either shaken from cars or cleaned out of them at
stopping places.

A fact, however, which should not be forgotten, is that the railway
companies do not grow these weed seeds themselves. They are merely the
carriers for farmers and would far rather handle grain perfectly free from
weed seeds of all kinds than such as contains a possible source of injury to
a new district, in the prosperity and progress of which they are interested.
It is most important to keep a close watch on all railway banks and station
yards so as to detect and destroy any new weeds which may appear, before
they spread to the surrounding country.

CLASSIFICATION OF WEEDS.

Weeds, like all other plants, may be simply classified according to the
length of time they live, under the three following heads: — Annuals, or
one-year plants; Biennials, or two-year plants; and Perennials, or many-
year plants. In eradicating weeds, it is of the greatest importance to consider
under which of these heads they come, because in most instances the treat-
ment is simple and will be upon the general principles of preventing annuals
and biennials from seeding, and perennials from forming new leaves, roots
and underground stems.

ANNTTALS. — Are those plants which complete their whole growth in a
year. As a rule they have small fibrous roots and produce a large quantity
of seed. Examples of this class are found in Wild Mustard, Stinkweed,
Lamb's-quarters, Wild Buckwheat, Purslane, Eagweed, Wild Oats. There
are also some annuals called "Winter Annuals," which are not only true
annuals when the seeds germinate in spring, but are also biennial in habit,
that is, their seeds ripened in the summer fall to the ground, germinate and
produce a certain growth before winter sets in and then complete their
development the next spring. Of these may be mentioned Shepherd's-purse,
Peppergrass, Stinkweed, mentioned above, Wormseed Mustard, Ball Mus-
tard, Hare's-ear Mustard, Canada Flea-bane, and the Blue Bur.

BIENNIALS. — Are those plants which require two seasons to complete
their growth, the first being spent in collecting and storing up a supply of
nourishment, which is used the second season in producing flowers and
seeds. Examples of these are Burdock, False-tansy, Common Evening-prim-
rose and Viper's Bugloss or Blue-weed.

PERENNIALS — Are those plants which continue growing for many years.
Perennial weeds are propagated in several ways, but all produce seeds as
well. They have two distinct modes of growth, those which root deeply, and
those of which the the root system is near the surface. The most trouble-
some are those which extend long underground stems deep beneath the sur-
face of the ground, as Canada Thistle, Perennial or Field Sowthistle, Field
Bindweed, Bladder Campion, White-stemmed Evening-primrose, Showy Let-
tuce, and some wild Sunflowers. Representatives of the second class or shal-
low-rooted perennials are : Pasture Sage, Yarrow and Couch Grass. Some
perennials extend but slowly from the root by means of short stems or
offsets, but produce a large quantity of seed. Of these, Ox-eye Daisy, Dan-
delion, Goldenrod and Yarrow are examples.

EXTERMINATION OF WEEDS.

In adopting a method of extermination, the nature of the plant to be
eradicated and its habits of growth must, first of all, be taken into considera-
tion.

Annuals. — Any method by which the germination of the seed in the soil
is hastened and the young plants afterwards destroyed before they produce
fresh seed, must in time clean land however badly infested it may be with
annual weeds. The seeds of some annuals have great vitality, and will con-
tinue appearing for several years as fresh seeds are brought up to the surface
by cultivation. Wild Mustard seeds have been known to germinate after
lying deep in the ground for twenty years, and the same vitality has been
claimed for Wild Oats, with, however, less satisfactory evidence.

Biennials must be either ploughed up or cut down before they flower.
Mowing at short intervals in the second year, so as to prevent the formation
of new seed, will clear the land of this class of plants; but a single mowing
will only induce them to send out later branches, which, if not cut, will
mature many seeds. Where ploughing is impracticable, this class of plants
should be cut off below the crown of the root. For this purpose, a spud or
a large chisel at the end of a long handle (to obviate the necessity of stoop-
ing) is as convenient a tool as can be used.

Perennials are by far the most troublesome of all weeds and require
very thorough treatment, in some instances the cultivation of special crops,
to ensure their eradication. Imperfect treatment such as a single ploughing,
frequently does more harm than good, by breaking up the underground stems
and stimulating growth.

It will be found in examining several perennial plants that they may
be divided into two classes, one of which has its root system close to the sur-
face of the soil, while the other roots very deeply. For the shallow-rooted
perennials, infested land should be either trenched deeply or ploughed so
lightly that the roots are exposed to the sun to dry up. For deep-rooted per-
ennials, on the other hand, ploughing should be as deep as conveniently pos-
sible without going to extra expense. The depth of ploughing must be de-
cided by the nature of the land. In light or gravelly soils shallow ploughing
may be preferable, as too deep ploughing would interfere with the mechanical
texture of the soil, which is so important in the movement of soil moisture.

Some method of cultivation must be adopted, such as the use of a broad-
shared cultivator, to cut off at short intervals all freshly formed shoots an
inch or two beneath the surface of the soil, so as to prevent the plants from
forming leaves and thus storing up nourishment to sustain future growth.

Plants take in most of their food through their leaves. Perennial
plants, which live for many years, have special reservoirs where some of
this food after elaboration is stored up for future use in such receptacles
as bulbs, tubers and fleshy rootstocks. The first growth in spring, particul-
arly flowering stems, are produced mainly by drawing on this special store
of nourishment. Plants are therefore in their weakest condition, at that time
of the year when they have exhausted to the greatest extent their supply of
reserve food, and have not had time to replenish it. The stage of growth,
then, when ploughing down of perennial plants will be of most effect, is
just when their flowering stems have made their full growth, but before the
seeds, which would be a source of danger, have had time to mature. Some
experience is necessary to know what is the best time to work certain soils
or to deal with special weeds, as well as to recognize weeds in all their stages.
Some weeds, the Russian Thistle and Stinkweed for instance, have a very
different appearance when young and when mature. No general rule can be
given, as the necessary treatment will vary in different districts on different
soils and under different climatic conditions. What may be the proper treat-
ment in one place, may fail in another. Perennial plants, if allowed to de-
velop flower stems and then ploughed down (or first mowed and then ploughed
under), will, by the production of the flower stems, have so far reduced the
nourishment stored up in the rootstocks that they are much weakened and
can afterwards be easily dealt with by two or three cultivations before win-
ter sets in. Late fall ploughing has also been found extremely useful in
Manitoba in cleaning land infested by some of the worst perennial weeds,
such as Canada Thistle and Field Sowthistle. On the other hand, it has
been found in the West that all the weeds and other plants decay readily
if prairie lands or meadows are broken in May or early in June. Land so
treated can therefore be cleaned far more easily than if the operation of
breaking is delayed until July. This is due to the climate and to the suc-
culent nature of all parts of the plant at that season.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES.

1. There is no weed known which cannot be eradicated by constant at-
tention, if only the nature of its growth be understood.

2. Never allow weeds to ripen seed.

3. Cultivate frequently, particularly early in the season, so as to de-
stroy seedlings while small and easily killed.

4. Many weed seeds can be induced to germinate in autumn by cul-
tivating stubbles immediately after harvest. Many of the seedlings would be
killed by winter or could be easily disposed of by ploughing or cultivation
in spring.

5. All weeds bearing mature seeds should be burnt, and under no cir-
cumstances should they be ploughed under.

6. All weeds can be destroyed by the use of the ordinary implements
of the farm, the plough, the cultivator, the spud and the hoe.

7. Be constantly on the alert to prevent new weeds from becoming estab-
lished on farms. Notwithstanding all efforts to the contrary, weeds will
certainly be introduced from time to time even on the farms of the most
careful .

10

SUMMER-FALLOWING .

Summer-fallowing as an agricultural practice, although not now fol-
lowed to the same extent as formerly in the older provinces, owing to the
more general adoption of mixed farming with a short rotation, in which hoed
crops are most useful in cleaning the land of weeds, is essentially necessary
in those parts of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, where the conser-
vation of moisture in the soil is of great importance, the farms are large,
labour is scarce and the time forxultivating the land in autumn and spring
is limited.

The method of summer-fallowing recommended is : to plough deeply
(so as to get a suitable seed bed) early in summer as soon after seeding as
possible; harrow the same day the ploughingjs done, so as to hold in the
largest amount of moisture, and then prevent a growth of weeds on this land
by three or at most four cultivations before winter sets in. This may be done
with any kind of cultivator or a disk harrow.

It is recommended for most parts of the West to summer-fallow land
once in three years. Plough and cultivate the first year. Grow grain
the second year and, except in the driest districts, take one crop more off
stubble. Then summer-fallow again. One ploughing of summer-fallow gives
the best results, because in wet years a second deep ploughing will tend to
produce too much growth and delay the ripening of the grain. Crops grown
on stubble do not yield quite so well as on summer-fallow, but the grain
ripens earlier and in windy sections tliere is less danger of the soil drifting.
A second crop should never be sown on stubble. There has been a tendency
in some parts of the West to put off the ploughing of land to be summer-
fallowed, as long as possible, so as to reduce the subsequent labour of har-
rowing and cultivating. The danger, however, of ploughing down seeds of
several kinds of winter annuals, which in the dry climate of Manitoba and
the North-western Provinces are sufficiently developed to ripen after being
ploughed down, is so great that, as recommended by Mr. Angus Mackay,
the work should be begun directly after seeding is finished.

SHORT ROTATION OF CHOPS.

As a means of keeping farms free of weeds there are few methods of
working land which give such good results as a systematic short rotation of
crops with regular seeding down to grass or clover at short intervals.

In the Prairie Provinces mixed farming has not yet been very widely
adopted. This has been largely due to local considerations, such as inade-
quate transportation facilities, lack of farm laborers, and the small amount
of stock kept on farms, added to the undoubted attractiveness of the quick
returns from growing wheat for a man with limited capital, who does not
think enough of the rapid exhaustion of his soil from growing one kind
of crop year after year. The increase of weeds, however, is Nature's pro-
test against a one-year system. Nevertheless, at the present time great
progress is noticeable in the West, in seeding down more land to hay and
pasture and in increasing the number of cattle, horses and sheep, necessary
to consume crops of a mixed nature. The following short rotation is
recommended for the East by Mr. J. H. Grisdale, Agriculturist of the Cen-
tral Experimental Farm:— "To destroy weeds, probably the best rotation
possible is one of three years' duration including clover and mixed hay,
followed by roots or corn, the land shallow-ploughed in fall and sown to
grain the next spring with ten pounds of red clover and twelve pounds of
timothy per acre. (When the land is heavy or clayey, the ten pounds of

11

red clover may be replaced by six pounds of red clover and two of alsike.)
If a portion of the arable land must be used for pasture, then the land might
be allowed to remain under grass or hay for two years instead of one year,
the second being used for pasture, thus extending the three-year into a four-
year rotation. The pasture land in the four-year rotation, or the hay land
in the three-year rotation, should be broken up early in August and culti-
vated at intervals to destroy the successive growths of weeds as they appear.
The land should be again ploughed or preferably ridged in the fall. These
rotations may be expected to give good results anywhere in Canada east of
Manitoba."

SEEDING DOWN.

The prevention of seed production by weeds is of the greatest import-
ance when cleaning land for a crop. A useful way of choking out many
perennial weeds and also of holding in check many annuals, is to seed down
to grass or clover. This does not kill the seeds of all the different kinds of
weeds which may be in the soil ; but it prevents many weed seeds from being
produced upon land which for one reason or another cannot be carefully
worked. When the sod is broken up again, the seeds of some kinds will
germinate and the plants become noticeable. In the same way that weeds
crowd out crops and reduce the yield, so may weeds themselves be choked
out by more vigorous plants which will prevent them from getting light
and air, and thus weaklings are produced which bear only a few seeds in-
stead of strong and vigorous plants which would produce perhaps many
thousands, or even hundreds of thousands. Seeding down is always a wise
practice on land which is not being used for some special crop, and is
Nature's own plan for keeping up the fertility of the soil and preventing an
undue preponderance of any one kind of plant.

WEEDEES AND HARROWS.

For the destruction of the seedlings of all kinds of weeds upon light
land comparatively free of roots and stones, but which has been sown to
grain crops for several years in succession, I know of nothing so effective
as the working of the surface of fields of growing grain after the plants are
three inches high, with the implements called Weeders, which deserve to be
in much more general use than they are. In lieu of these, light harrows
with sloped teeth may be used to advantage. The field should be dragged
in the same direction as the drills. This work of course should only be done
when the land is in the proper condition for harrowing. If fields are har-
rowed before the grain is three inches high, some of the plants are apt to
be covered up too deeply ; but after that stage of growth they are very much
benefited by' the operation, which not only kills all of the small weak seed-
lings of weeds which have germinated near the surface of the soil, without
dragging out or in any way injuring the grain plants, but at the same time
breaks up the surface of the soil. This benefits the crop so treated in
exactly the same way as crops of corn or potatoes are helped by harrowing,
as it forms on the surface a mulch of dry dust which holds in moisture. A
single harrowing is generally sufficient; but, if necessary, the operation
may be repeated two or three times and until the plants are six inches high.
For such persistent annual weeds as Stinkweed, the various kinds of Mustard
and Lamb's-quarters, the use of weeders or harrows as above recommended,
is undoubtedly the most economical and in every way the best method of
control.

12

WEEDS NOT "NATURAL TO THE SOIL."

It may not be amiss to refer to a widespread, although not always
acknowledged, misconception on the part of some of our cultivators of the
soil. Not a few people believe that weeds are what they term "Natural
to the soil," by which they mean that these plants can arise in some way
by spontaneous generation from the soil in places where they have not been
sown and where there are no seeds. This is absolutely erroneous. No
plant can ever begin to grow, except from a seed or from a piece of a similar
plant in the ground. The appearance of weeds on land which has been
cleaned, is due to the enormous number of seeds produced by some plants
which have become weeds, and to the numerous ways in which these can be
carried by the elements or otherwise transported to an adjoining piece of
land, where, if the conditions of growth are favourable they flourish. The
plants which have developed into noxious weeds, are those which have the
greatest powers of propagating themselves and which are of robust habit
and are better able to care for themselves than the plants we grow as crops,
most of which are of exotic origin and of improved strains, such as are not
able to hold their own unless cared for and helped by man. If plants could
come into existence by spontaneous generation, the various kinds would be
more evenly distributed; but, in the case of even our worst weeds, we know
in many instances when and by what means they have been introduced into
new districts, which would not be the case if they could spring up spontan-
eously from the soil.

CLEAN SEED.

Too much stress cannot be laid on the economy of using well cleaned
seed for all crops, even if what seems to be a very high price has to be paid
for it. It is undoubtedly the case that many weeds occur in crops, which
can only be there from the seed having been sown with the crop seed. Ex-
amples of these are Chess in fall wheat, and Darnel and Cockle in spring
wheat. The spread of weeds into new localities is almost entirely due to
their having been introduced with seed brought from another district. The
old idea that there was a great advantage in getting a change of seed from
another farm or district, or from a crop grown on different soil, has been
responsible for the bringing in of many troublesome weeds to farms where
previously they were unknown. Many Canadian farmers are appreciating
this, and more of them every year are adopting the wise plan of growing
their own seed grain, carefully selected to a desired type, upon a plot of
land specially prepared and kept clean for the purpose. The value of such
work and the willingness on the part of farmers to pay a reasonable price,
although apparently a high one, for good seed, clean, true to variety and
type, and well matured, have given rise to that most useful organization, the
Canadian Seed Growers' Association. The institution of such a plan of
securing high class seed will affect the condition of the whole of a man's
farm; for he will have an eloquent object lesson of what large yields may
be produced by careful work on a small area, and also how much larger
monetary returns may be secured in his whole crop by adopting similar
measures. This has actually been the case with members of the Seed
Growers' Association.

THE SEEDS OF WEEDS.

As so many weeds are introduced into new localities by their seeds being
sown mixed with crop seeds, it is of the utmost importance that those who
purchase seed from dealers should know how to recognize the seeds of the
various kinds of these agricultural pests. Every farmer should know by

13

sight the seeds of the fifteen or twenty worst weeds which are likely to be
found among the seeds of cereals, clovers and grasses, as well as among some
garden seeds. He should always examine for himself all crop seeds he
buys, no matter what guarantee of purity he may get from the sellers. The
seeds of most weeds are small and therefore it is necessary to examine them
through a magnifying glass. A suitable glass, however, for this purpose
can be purchased anywhere for twenty-five or fifty cents. All of the weed
seeds have characteristic shapes, colours and markings, by which, after a
little practice, they are just as easily recognized as the crop seeds among
which they occur.

For ease of reference, it has been thought best to arrange the plants
treated of in this bulletin in their natural botanical order, as given in Prof.
Macoun's Catalogue of Canadian Plants. Where necessary, a short account
has also been given of the different families of plants.

In the descriptive matter accompanying each plate will be found a care-
ful description, giving the salient points by which the seed of each plant
represented may be recognized ; and at the end of the volume are given some
plates showing these seeds, both of their natural size and also much enlarged
so as to show the same seed as it appears under the ordinary pocket magnify-
ing glass. In addition to the seeds of the plants figured and described,
representations are also given of some other weed seeds which are likely to
be found among crop seeds offered for sale in the market or which are likely
to occur among crops grown by farmers in Canada. Each kind of seed on
the plates is well represented in colours and is plainly marked with that
name which is best known to the largest number of people interested, or
which is used over the widest area of country. It is hoped that these will be
useful to the large number of farmers, seedsmen and students, who are direct-
ing much more attention than formerly to this important subject.

BOTANICAL TERMS EXPLAINED.

In treating of the various weeds mentioned in this bulletin, it will be
necessary for the sake of brevity to make occasional use of a few botanical
terms which may not be familiar to all. A list of these is given below with
explanations.

Achene — A dry one-seeded fruit in a hard close-fitting shell which opens

only when burst by the germinating seed.
Anther — See Stamen.
Apical Scar — The mark on a fruit, where the style or stigma was

attached.1

Axil — The angle between a leaf and a stem.
Basal Scar — The mark on a fruit, where it was attached to the peduncle,

or on a seed where it was attached to the seed vessel.
Bract — A small leaf bearing a flower in its axil.
Calyx — The outer set of leaves in a flower.
Compound — Composed of several similar parts.
Corolla — The inner set of leaves in a flower, generally coloured.
Corymb — A raceme in which the footstalks are gradually lengthened

from the apex downwards, so that all the flowers are brought to

the same level or nearly so.
Cyme — A panicle with the footstalks so developed or contracted as to

form a flat-topped head, the central flowers generally blooming

first ; examples : Elder, Dogwood.
Dentate — "With toothed edges.

14

Embryo — The rudimentary plant contained in a seed.

Entire — Not toothed.

Filament — See Stamen.

Fruit — The matured ovary and its contents, together with any appen-
dages of the flower which seem to form an integral part, as the calyx
of an Apple or a Eose.

Head — When numerous flowers are arranged upon a disk or receptacle ;
examples : Ox-eye Daisy, Clover.

Involucre — A circle of bracts round a flower or flower-head.

Irregular — With some of the parts different in size or shape.

Lobed — Divided to about the middle.

Ovary — See Pistil.

Panicle — A compound raceme, or a raceme wjth branched footstalks;
example : Oats.

Pedicel — The stalk of a flower in a cluster.

Peduncle — The stalk of a flower.

Petals — The separate parts of a corolla.

Petiole— The stalk of a leaf.

Pinnate — Feather-like, having leaflets on each side of a main stalk.

Pinnatifid — Cut like a pinnate leaf.

Pistil — The female organ of a flower, composed of the ovary, which
contains the seed, the stigma, a soft viscid part of the pistil which
receives the pollen grains, and the style, which supports the stigma.

Pollen — See Stamen.

Pubescent — Downy.

Raceme — Like a spike but with the flowers borne upon footstalks of an
equal and of a noticeable length ; example : Lily-of-the-Valley.

Radicle — The first root that comes from a seed.

Regular — With the parts uniform in size and shape.

Rootstock — A creeping stem below the surface of the ground.

Runcinate — Having the teeth of a leaf directed towards the base.

Scarious — Membranous.

Seed — The embryo with its covering, if this is not part of the ovary. '

Sepals — The separate parts of the calyx.

Sessile — Without a footstalk.

Spatulate — Expanded above and narrowed at the base.

Spike — When the flowerstalks are very short or wanting on a long cylin-
drical flower-cluster.

Stamen — The male organ of a flower composed of the anther, which
holds the fertilizing pollen grains, and the support called the fila-
ment.

Stellate— Shaped like a star.

Stigma — See Pistil.

Stipule — A small leafy expansion of the base of a petiole.

Style— See Pistil.

Truncate — Cut off abruptly.

Umbel — When the flowers are supported upon footstalks rising from
the summit of a general footstalk ; example : Geranium. If each
of the footstalks of an umbel bears a secondary umbel as in the
Carrot, it is a compound umbel.

In Botany the word fruit signifies the enlarged and matured ovary,
whatever its substance may be and whether fit to eat or not. In the small
fruits of many weeds it is sometimes difficult to decide whether these are

15

fruits or true seeds. In the Buttercup, Sunflower, Borage, and Mint
families, the seed-like bodies are really fruits, while in the Mustard,
Pink, Pea and Evening-primrose families they are true seeds. In descri-
bing the weeds in the present publication, it seems wise to speak of all of these
as seeds, which is the term commonly used by seedsmen, farmers and others ;
but in the short notices of the Families of Plants the true nature is men-
tioned. Dr. L. H. Grindon, the eminent English botanist in his "British
and Garden Botany" makes the following concise distinction: "There is
an infallible distinction between a fruit and a seed, however much they
may resemble each other: — the fruit always has a scar at the base, showing
where it was attached to the peduncle, and another upon the summit, indicat-
ing the former presence of the style or stigma; but the seed has never more
than one scar, indicating the point at which it was connected with the pod
that contained it."

Certain of the worst weeds have been legislated against by the Dominion
Parliament or by the provincial legislatures. These are all mentioned in
this bulletin, and the province in which they have been proclaimed noxious
is indicated under each species after the word Noxious as follows : — Noxious :
Dom., Ont., Man., N. W., B. C. — meaning that laws have been passed by
the Dominion and the provinces mentioned, looking to the destruction of the
weed in the field or to the elimination of the seeds from crop seeds offered
for sale.

CONCLUSION.

It should be remembered that all kinds of weeds can be kept under
control on land worked properly and under a short rotation of crops, with
the ordinary implements of the farm, used at regular time. Many of the
recommendations made in this bulletin are special measures for cleaning1
land which has become badly infested by certain weeds.

16

THE BUTTERCUP FAMILY, RANUNCULACE&.

The Buttercup family contains a few weeds of secondary importance, as
the Tall Buttercup, Ranunculus acris, L., which occurs in almost every part
of the Dominion, and the Creeping Crowfoot, Ranunculus repens, L., which
is troublesome in pastures in the Maritime Provinces, and is also found in
other districts. Both are perennials which are acrid and irritating to the
mouths of stock when eaten in a fresh state, but lose their noxious qualities
when made into hay. The Cursed Crowfoot, Ranunculus sceleratus, L., is
so acrid that the juice will blister the skin. The Sea-side Crowfoot, Ranun-
culus Cymbalaria, Pursh, has been suspected of poisoning stock in the North-
west. The flowers in this family are either regular or irregular; the fruits
are very variable, and the seeds may be contained in berries, in dry pods, or
in achenes, which are small, separate, seed-like dry fruits, containing a single
seed in a hard, close-fitting shell which does not open of itself, but remains
closed until burst by the germinating seed. In the division of the family to
which the true buttercups belong, the fruit is a head made up of several
achenes. The seeds (achenes) of several kinds of Buttercup may be found
in commercial grass seeds and are [Plate 55, fig. 42 — natural size and enlarged
4 times] mostly flattened, somewhat oval in outline, pointed at one end, dark
coloured and margined, from one-tweltfh to one-eighth of an inch across.
None of the species of Butter-cup are deep-rooted, and all can be controlled
by breaking up the pastures and re-seeding to grass. In this family
there are also some virulently poisonous plants, as the Larkspurs (Del-
phinium) and Monkshoods (Aconitum) of the western plains. The
Crocus Anemone, Anemone patens, L., var. Nuttalliana, Gray, has
been the cause of losses in flocks of sheep. Owing to its earliness in flowering
and its succulence, the hairy stems are eaten in quantity and the copious
hairs, remaining undigested, form balls in the stomachs of the sheep. The
White or Pennsylvanian Anemone, Anemone canadensis, L., sometimes in-
creases so much in low pastures that it crowds out the grasses and necessitates
the breaking up of the sod. The seed [Plate 55, fig. 41 — natural size and
enlarged 4 times] is sometimes found with the seeds of grasses. At figure
42, on the same plate, is the seed of the Tall Buttercup, a common impurity
in the seeds of the coarser grasses. [1J natural size and enlarged 4 times.]

THE FUMITORY FAMILY, FUMARIACE&.

An occasional weed in the wheat fields of Manitoba is the GOLDEN FUMI-
TORY, Corydalis aurea, Willd. This plant sometimes appears in low land
and in restricted areas, in such numbers as to crowd out grain crops sown
on stubble. It is a succulent biennial with golden-yellow irregular flowers,
the seeds [Plate 55, fig. 43 — twice nat. size and enlarged 4 times] are shining
black, rounded-kidney-shaped, about one-twelfth of an inch across, borne in
one-celled, square, somewhat knotty, curved pods which split down one side
to shed the seeds. Spring or fall plowing or the disking of stubbles before
sowing will clear them of this weed.

THE MUSTARD FAMILY, CRUCIFER&.

There are few orders of plants of so great economic importance as the
Mustard family, not only from the large number of troublesome weeds it

(2 vv.) 17

contains, but also from the fact that not a single unwholesome plant is found
in it. Many species form well known and excellent articles of food, as the
cabbage, turnip, radish, watercress, etc. Some of our worst weeds, however,
most of which have been introduced into Canada, belong to this family. The
characters of the family are easily recognized. The flowers are regular, com-
posed of four free sepals and four free petals, arranged in two opposite pairs
and forming a cross-shaped flower, from which the whole family takes its
name, Crucifera;. The flowers are borne on footstalks (pedicels), aud clust-
ered at the tips of branches which gradually elongate, forming long, upright
racemes, with, often, fully-formed and even ripe pods below, before the top-
most flowers have opened. When ripe the seed pods, which are of various
shapes, in nearly all instances, consist of two outside walls separated by a
thin white partition, to the two sides of which the seeds are attached. The
seeds are, as a rule, small and very numerous, Their surface is usually
rather dull, more or less granular, and many, when placed in water, develop
gelatinous hairs and mucilage, by which, when they dry, they remain
attached to passing objects or adjacent surfaces. This constitutes an import-
ant factor in their distribution. The quantity of mucilage varies. On some
seeds it remains after drying as a covering of hair-like points or threads.
The seed-coat is generally thin and close-fitting, the shape of the embryo
plant showing plainly through it. The position taken by the folded up
embryo inside the seed is often a great help in identifying the seeds of weeds.
The seed leaves and radicle inside the seeds of crucifers take one of four
characteristic positions :

1. Accumbent, when, the radicle lies along the edges of the seed leaves,
as in Stinkweed, from a Latin word accumbo, meaning to lie at the side.

2. Incumbent, when the radicle lies down the back of one of the seed
leaves, as in Shepherd's-purse, Common Pepper-grass and Hare's-ear Mus-
tard, from a Latin word incumbo, meaning to lie on the back.

3. Oblique, when the radicle lies slantingly across the edges of the seed
leaves, as in the Prairie Wallflowers.

4. Conduplicate, when the radicle lies on the back of one of the seed
leaves and these are folded sideways over it, as in the Mustard, Eadish, etc.

Many of the Crucifers have in the roots, stems or seeds recognizable
odours or flavours, which help in identifying them. The leaves and stems of
many bear small star-shaped hairs. The best known or most noxious mem-
bers of the Mustard family are treated of separately and figured, others
which might be confounded with them will be referred to in the text, and
the chief differences pointed out.

Closely allied with the Mustard family is the Caper family (Cappari-
dacea?), which has some important characters in common with it, such as
cross-shaped flowers, seeds in pods, but these without partitions, and often
having acrid or pungent juice. The chief differences between the two families
are that in the Mustard family, four of the six stamens are long and two
short, while in the Caper family all six are equal, and the pod of the former
two-celled, being divided by a thin partition across the middle. The
curious seeds [Plate 55, fig. 47— natural size and enlarged 4 times] of the
ENTIRE-LEAVED SPIDER-FLOWER, Cleome integrifolia, T. & G., of this family
are sometimes found in western wheat. These seeds are rounded-wedge-shape
or elongated-kidney-shape, with a deep curved groove running up each face
two-thirds of the way to the top from just above the sharp-pointed base
Ihese seeds, when ripe, are dark brown, roughened with pale, scurfy ex-
crescences; the dried unripe seeds a-re yellowish.

2a w. 18

Plate

t

WORM-SE-E-D MUSTARD

( Erysimum chei ranl-hoides./.J

PLATE 1.

WORMSEED MUSTARD, Erysimum cheiranthoides, L.
Other English name : Treacle Mustard.

(Noxious: N.W.)

Native. Annual and winter annual. Stems erect, simple or branch-
ing, six inches to two feet high. Dark green; whole plant sometimes slightly
hoary with very short star-like hairs. Leaves, lance-shaped, sparsely
toothed. Flowers bright yellow, one-fifth inch across, in terminal clusters
about one inch across, on gradually elongating racemes. Seed pods slightly
curved from half an inch to one inch long, obtusely four-angled, erect on
spreading pedicels. Each pod contains about twenty-five seeds. An aver-
age plant will ripen about 25,000 seeds. Seeds [Plate 53, fig. 1 — twice nat. size
and enlarged 8 times], variable in size and shape, many being pointed at one
end, rounded at the other, about T'T of an inch long, reddish yellow, with
a dull surface, but almost destitute of mucilage. Scar end darkened.
Lladicle conspicuous and incumbent, that is lying down the back of
one of the seed leaves, which are plainly recognizable in the dry seed. The
taste of the seeds is very bitter, which renders them unpalatable to stock,
and it is claimed by some feeders that they are very injurious. This conten-
tion, however, is not borne out by recent experiments at Port Arthur, where
large quantities have been fed to sheep without any injury.

Time of Flowering: June to autumn; seeds ripe July to frost.
Propagation : By seeds.

Occurrence : Frequent in waste places and on cultivated land through-
out Canada.

Injury : A common impurity in clover seed, also a weed of summer-
fallows and grain crops grown on stubble, occasionally so abundant as to
crowd out grain.

Remedy : The injuries by Wormseed Mustard are mostly by those plants
of which the seeds germinate in autumn, and which remain on the land
through the winter. The destruction of these, however, is a simple mat-
ter by ploughing the land in fall or spring. A disk-harrow may be used
with good effect if the work is done early in the spring before too many new
roots are made.

19

PLATE 2.

HARE'S-EAR MUSTARD, Conringia orientalis (L.) Andrz.

Other English names : Rabbit-ear, Hare's-ear Cabbage, Klinkweed.
Other Latin names : Erysimum orientale, R. Br. ; Brassica orientalis,
L. ; Brassica perfoliata, Lam. ; Conringia orientalis, Reich.

(Noxious: Dom., Man., N.W.)

Annual and winter annual. Introduced from Europe, probably with
flax seed, about 1892, now general throughout Manitoba and the North-west.
Stems erect, with a few branches, 1 to 4 feet high. Whole plant perfectly
smooth and glaucous (grayish green), with the appearance of a cabbage,
when young. Leaves fleshy, entire, near the root obovate, gradually nar-
rowed to the base ; on the stiff stems, which become very wire-like when ripe,
oblong oval, shaped like a hare's or a rabbit's ear, clasping the stem by two
rounded auricles. Flowers creamy white, J inch across. Pods square, 3 to 4
inches long. Seeds [Plate 55, fig. 44 — twice nat. size and enlarged 4 times]
dark brown, rounded oblong, pointed at the scar end, T\- of an inch long,
granular-roughened ; when soaked in water, covered with a thick pile of short
erect white mucilaginous hairs.

Time of Flowering : End of June ; seeds ripe August to September.
Propagation : By seeds.

Occurrence : In grain fields, on stubble and by roadsides wherever grain
is carried.

Injury : This succulent plant absorbs much moisture from the soil, very
little grain growing where there is a patch of it. The wiry stems are hard
to bind and an infested crop requires more labour to handle and much more
twine to bind it.

Remedy: Pull by hand. If in large quantity, summer fallow. Disk
stubbles in fall or early spring to kill plants which germinate after harvest
and live over winter.

20

Plate 2

HARE-'S-EAR MUSTARD

(Conrmgia onen falls . //./,.•//////,- )

P!ate3

'ft

GREEN TANSY MUSTARD

(Sisymbrium incisum, /./.#»•/„< .,-. f i I i p e s . «/•«/ </. i

PLATE 3.

GREEN TANSY-MUSTARD, Sisymbrium incisum, Engelm., var. filipcs, Gr«y.

Other English name : Cut-leaved Tansy-Mustard.
Other Latin names : Sophia incisa (Engelm.) Greene.

(Noxious: N.W.)

Native. Biennial. In the first season a rosette of finely divided leaver
lying on the ground. Stems, 3 to 4 feet, erect, widely branching at the top and
bearing an enormous number of narrow, smooth, slightly curved pods from
£ to f inch long on slender spreading pedicels. Whole plant bright green
and somewhat glandular. Leaves pinnately divided and the pinnae again
once to twice divided into linear-oblong entire or toothed segments. Flowers
yellow, one-eighth of an inch across in elongated racemes. Seeds [Plate 53,
fig. 2— natural size and enlarged 8 times] very small, ^ of an inch long,
reddish brown, minutely roughened with mucilaginous hairs, shedding out
very easily.

Time of Flowering : July ; seeds ripe August.
Propagation : By seeds.

Occurrence : In crops grown on stubble and on imperfectly cultivated
summer-fallows.

Injury : A coarse unsightly weed and a gross feeder.
Remedy : Fall and spring cultivation and hand-pulling.

The GRAY TANSY-MUSTARD, Sisymbrium incisum, Engelm., var. Hart-
wegianum, Watson, is also a tall coarse biennial plant with much divided
foliage like the above, but differs by being covered with short gray pubescence
and its more erect habit of growth. It has pods only | inch long, all crowded
close to the slender ascending branches which form a narrow spire. The
Gray Tansy-Mustard is the commoner and more widely distributed plant of
the two. It flowers and ripens its seed some weeks later. These two coarse
biennials grow only from seed, but they throw out long branches from their
white tap roots and draw nourishment from a wide area. As they stand up
considerably above the crop, they are a conspicuous advertisement of neg-
ligent farming.

PLATE 4.

TUMBLING MUSTARD, Sisymbrium altisaimum, L.

Other English, name : Tall Sisymbrium.

Other Latin names: Sisymbrium sinapistrum, Crantz; Sisymbrium
pannonicum, Jacq.

(Noxious: Dom., Man., N.W.)

Annual and sometimes winter annual. Introduced into the Prairie
Provinces from Central and Southern Europe about 1887. Two to six feet
high ; stem branching, the lower part and the root leaves downy and glandu-
lar, with a musky odour. Upper part of the stem and the much divided
leaves smooth. The young plants form a rosette of soft pale green downy
leaves, shaped much like those of the Dandelion. On the flowering plants the
leaves change very much in shape from the root up, no two being alike.
Flowers pale yellow, J inch in diameter, cross-shaped as in all the mem-
bers of the Mustard and Cress family. Seed pods 2 to 4 inches long, very
slender and produced abundantly along the branches. Each pod contains
about 120 seeds, and a single plant has borne one million and a half seeds.
Seeds [Plate 53, fig. 3 — natural size and enlarged 8 times] very small
•/5 of an inch, olive-brown or greenish-yellow, minutely roughened
with mucilaginous glands, oblong, angular, truncate at the scar end, some-
times almost square from compression in the pod, grooves between the edges
of the seed leaves and between these latter and the radicle conspicuously
darkened. The seed leaves and incumbent radicle plainly visible through
the thin skin. When the seeds are ripe the whole head of the plant breaks
off and is blown across the prairie, scattering the seeds far and wide. The
seeds, as in many "tumbling weeds," are not very easily shed from the tough
pods, consequently a head of this weed may blow about on the prairie for a
whole winter, dropping a few seeds at intervals for many miles.

Time of Flowering : June to July ; seed ripe August.
Propagation : By seeds.

Occurrence : In grain fields in the West. Occasionally found along rail-
ways and in waste places in other parts of Canada, but not as a farm weed.

Injury : This is a Mustard with all the bad characteristics of those
aggressive enemies of the farmer — enormously prolific, with great powers to
spread, owing to its tumbling habit; a coarse, conspicuous plant and a gross
feeder. The seed however is so small that with a little care it can be easily
cleaned from seed grain. It does not appear to retain its vitality in the
soil as long as the seed of some other kinds of Mustard.

Remedy : Hand-pull when there are only a few plants. Pay particular
attention to edges of fields and fire-breaks. Cultivate growing crops with
weeder or light harrows.

22

Plate 4

TUMBLING MUSTARD

( Sisymbnum alHssimum./..)

PlateS

WILD MUSTARD OR CHARLOCK

( Brassica Sinapis ITU m. //«, n I

PLATE 5.

WILD MUSTARD, Bratsica Sinapistrum, Bois».

Other English names : Charlock, Herrick, Cadluck, Field-Kale, On-
tario Mustard.

Other Latin names: Sinapis arvensis, L., et auct. plur. ; Brassica
Sinapistrum, Benth.

(Noxious: Dom., Man., N.W.)

Annual. Introduced from Europe. Now found in all parts of Canada,
but most abundant in the Eastern Provinces and Manitoba. The erect
branching stems 1 to 3 feet high, rough with stiff, somewhat deflexed, hairs.
Lower leaves stalked, usually deeply indented or lobed, with the terminal lobe
large. Upper leaves mostly sessile. Flowers bright yellow, fragrant, § inch
broad. Seed pods 1 to 2 inches long, knotty or slightly constricted between
the seeds, ribbed and ascending, on short thick pedicles, tipped with a long
empty or 1-seeded 2-edged beak, which comes away whole from the ripe pod.
Seeds [Plate 53, fig. 4 — natural size and enlarged 8 times] round, about 15
to 17 in each pod, very dark brown or reddish black and almost smooth, no
mucilage. The seeds have great vitality ; an actual proved instance of their
having lain in the ground in a salt marsh in Nova Scotia for twenty years is
known to me, and another of Wild Mustard appearing abundantly on the
ploughing up of a pasture which had been down for twenty-four years. A
purple patch at the junction of the branches with the stem is a striking char-
acter of this Mustard.

Time of Flowering : June to September ; seed ripe by August.
Propagation -. By seeds only.

Occurrence : In all farm crops and in waste' places. Distributed in crop
seeds, by floods and wind, and in manure.

Injury : A gross feeder and recognized generally as an indication of neg-
ligent farming.

Remedy : Hand-pull regularly if only in small numbers. Harrow stub-
bles as soon as the crop is harvested to start autumn growth ; cultivate down
the first growth or feed off with sheep. Leave late plants, which the frosts
of winter will kill before seeds ripen. Spraying young Mustard plants with
a 2 per cent, solution of bluestone (sulphate of copper), that is, 2 Ibs. of
bluestone in every 100 Ibs. (10 gallons) of water, has given very satisfactory
results. The bluestone solution falling on the leaves and tender stems of the
Mustard kills them in a few hours without any injury to the grain or grass
crop amongst which they are growing. The work must be done when the
Mustard is quite young and succulent, that is, when the first flowers are
opening. A barrel, 40 gallons, will almost cover an acre if used with care
and put on at the best time, 'before the plants are too large. The cost is
about 80 cents per acre. This method is a practical one in Ontario, where
water is plentiful and labour and implements are cheap. In the West this

23

is not always the case, and a far better plan on the large prairie farms where
seeding down with a grain crop is seldom resorted to, is to kill the young
plants of Wild Mustard and all other annual weeds, the seeds of which germ-
inate near the surface of the soil, by harrowing growing crops .with weed-
ers or light harrows after the crop is well up and there is no danger of
covering the blade too deeply. Some have hesitated to adopt this method,
fearing that the grain plants would be dragged out by the harrows. No such
fears need be entertained, if the work is done when the land is in the proper
condition for harrowing and with light, slope-toothed harrows. It is sug-
gested that all who have trouble with annual weeds, such as the various kinds
of Mustard, Stinkweed, Eagweed, Lamb's-quarters, Wild Buckwheat, etc.,
should at any rate try this method on a small part of their crop ; one strip
up the side of one field will be enough to show the good results to be obtained.
In addition to the real Wild Mustard there are two or three other trouble-
some species which may be confounded with it, and are all to be regarded
in the same light by farmers on account of their aggressiveness.

BIRD RAPE, or German Rape, Brassica campestris, L. (including Brassica
Rapa, L., and B. Napus, L., which cannot be separated by any permanent
characters). -This resembles the Wild Mustard very closely in general appear-
ance, but has only the root leaves hairy. The stem, upper leaves which clasp
the stem by an auricled base, and the long pods on spreading pedicels, are
all perfectly smooth and waxy like the .leaf of a cabbage. This form is
abundant in Manitoba and in some parts of the Provinces of Quebec and
Ontario. An important difference between Bird Rape and Wild Mustard
is that the former cannot be killed by spraying with the bluestone solution.

INDIAN MUSTARD, Brassica juncea, L., which closely resembles Bird
Rape, has been detected in a few places in Manitoba and Ontario. It differs
chiefly in the stem leaves, which have not clasping bases, in the shape of the
pods and in the shorter pedicels, which are less spreading.

BLACK MUSTARD, Brassica nigra (L.) Eoch. Although appearing occasion-
ally in all of the Provinces and often mentioned by correspondents, the true
Black Mustard does not, as far as I am aware, occur anywhere in Canada as
a troublesome weed upon farms. It may be at once known by its long
spreading branches covered with short square pods only half an inch long,
which are erect and closely appressed to the stem.

WILD RADISH, Raphanvs Raphanistrum, L. Much of the '"Wild Mus-
tard," "Cadluck" or "Kale" of Nova Scotian correspondents is really the
Wild Radish, which is an annual 1 to 2 feet high with a few long branches
starting low down. The root is slender, not swollen as in the Garden Radish.
Leaves pale yellowish green, deeply lobed and bearing like the stem a few
stiff bristles. The flowers are fewer and larger than in Wild Mustard, notice-
ably paler yellow, conspicuously veined. The constricted seed pods give the
best characters, and with these no mistake can be made between these two
similar plants. In Wild Radish the seed-pods have no valves but are com-
posed of two joints, the lower one small, one-tenth of an inch, and seedless,
which remains attached to the footstalk: the upper, cylindrical, li inches
long, with several one-seeded cells formed by transverse partitions. This seed-
bearing portion sepni'ates from the first joint, lenvins? it attached to the
pedicel and in threshing is broken up into single-seeded sections.

All of the nbove weeds may be treated in the same way, except that the
Wild Radish, like tlie Bird Rape, cannot be destroyed easily by spraying
with the bluestone solution.

2.4

Plate 6

FALSE- FLAX

(Carnelina

PLATE 6.

FALSE-FLAX, Camelina saliva, Crantz.

Other English name : Gold of Pleasure.

Other Latin names : Myagrum sativum, L. ; Camelina sativa, Fries. ;
Camelina macrocarpa, Reich.

(Noxious: Dom., Man., N.W.)

Introduced from Europe. Annual and winter annual, 2 to 3 feet high;
erect, branched above. Hoot leaves lanceolate and narrowed into a petiole ;
upper leaves arrow-shaped, sharply pointed. The lower leaves and the lower
part of the stem downy with star-shaped hairs. The upper part of the stem
smooth and glaucous. Flowers numerous, small, one-eighth of an inch
across, pale greenish yellow. Pods three-eighths of an inch, balloon-shaped
or pear-shaped, margined and tipped with a slender beak, on slender as-
cending pedicels, each containing about 10 seeds. Racemes much elongated
in fruit. Seeds [Plate 55, fig. 45 — natural size and enlarged 4 times] very
variable in size, about ^\ of an inch, pale yellowish brown. The groove
between the radicle and the seed leaves distinct, that between the seed
leaves less so. Seed coat finely pitted. Scar of attachment white, in a notch
between the tip of the radicle and the seed leaves. When the seeds are
soaked in water, they develop a copious coat of mucilage and a fine pile of
transparent hairs. The seeds have been used as food on account of their
mucilage and oil, both of which resemble those of linseed. The plant has
been considerably cultivated for these products in Germany and France.

Time of Flowering : June to August ; seed ripe July to September.
Propagation : By seeds only.

Occurrence : All through Canada in waste places and along railways. A
noxious weed in the West and in western Ontario.

Injury : A common weed in the West in grain crops, particularly on
stubble, and in flax fields. In Ontario, in fields of fall grain. The seeds are
frequently found in the seed of flax, clover and grass.

Remedy : Hand-pull, surface cultivation in fall and spring. Summer-
fallow early.

In Ontario this and similar weeds may be kept in check by summer-fal-
lowing early and then sowing the same season with rape in drills 26 inches
apart, the horse hoeing to be supplemented with more or less hand hoeing.
This may be followed the next spring by another hoed crop as corn, potatoes
or turnips. Rape is one of the best cleaning crops that can be grown if care-
fully cultivated, and where it is followed the next year with a hoed crop,
few weeds can withstand the treatment.

There is another species of False-flax which is found occasionally, and
which is rapidly becoming more abundant and wide spread, both in the West
and in Ontario. This is the SMALL-SEEDED FALSE-FLAX, Camelina micro-
carpa, Andrz., which resembles the ordinary weed very much, but has smaller
pods and smaller and darker-coloured seeds.

25

PLATE 7.

BALL MUSTARD, Neslia paniculata (L.) Desv.

Otter English names : Yellow-weed, Neslia.
Other Latin name : Myagrum paniculatum, L.

(Noxious: Dom., N.W.)

Introduced into the West about the same time as Tumbling Mustard,
Hare's-ear Mustard and Cow Cockle. A tall slender, annual or winter annual,
which has spread through the grain growing districts on the prairies with
great rapidity, until it is now found as a bad pest of the grain grower from
Manitoba to the Pacific. Stems erect, very slender; strong plants throwing
out a few long branches. Whole plant yellowish green and covered with
small appressed star-shaped hairs. Lower leaves lance-shaped, narrowed at
the base; stem leaves arrow-shaped, clasping the stem at the base, blunt-
pointed. Flowers small, J of an inch, orange-yellow; racemes very
long, with the small, round, one-seeded, shot-like pods [Plate 55, fig. 46 —
natural size and enlarged 4 times] standing out from them in all directions
on slender footstalks about half an inch in length. The pods do not open to
discharge the seed, but dry up and produce a small, roundish, brown,
wrinkled object, like a small piece of dry earth, about T^- of an inch across.
The contained seed is yellow.

Time of Flowering : June to August ; seed ripe July to September.
Propagation : By seed only.

Occurrence : In grain fields all through the West. In the East along
railways and wherever western grain is carried. Ball Mustard is trouble-
some as a weed only in the West.

Injury : This weed has spread chiefly from the inconspicuous nature of
the seed. It is frequently overlooked in seed grain, owing to the resemblance
of the persistent wrinkled pod to a small particle of earth.

Remedy : Early summer-fallowing and the disking of stubbles in fall
and spring are perhaps the best way to hold it in check. All seed grain
should be very carefully cleaned before sowing. In very badly infested fields
the stubble should be harrowed as soon as the crop is harvested to start a crop
of seedlings, which should be disked down late in autumn. The next spring
the land may again be cultivated and sown late to early barley, which should
be cut on the green side, or oats may be sown for green feed. The edges of
fields should be mown before the seeds of the Ball Mustard are ripe, and the
hay fed at once or burnt. This and all the mustards make good green feed.

26

Plate 7

BALL MUSTARD

(Neslia paniculal"a.f/. i /«•

OFTHE

( UNIVERSITY )

of

Plate 8

SHEPHERD'S PURSE-

i Capsella Burs a- pa shoris.. '/»«,-/

PLATE 8.

SHEPHERD'S-PURSE, Capsella Bursa-pastorh, Moench.
Other Latin names : Bursa pastoris, Weber ; Thlaspi Bursa-pastoris, L.

(Noxious: N.W.)

Introduced. Annual and winter annual. The Shepherd's-purse is well
known to every gardener. At all times of the year, when it is not actually
freezing, this plant is growing and ripening its seeds.

There are few plants so variable in size and appearance. There may be
at the base a vigorous rosette of leaves, or there may be none at all. The
leaves may be deeply cut, pinnatifid, or quite entire, without any teeth at all.
The plant may be bright green and nearly smooth or canescently gray with
short hairs and stellate down. A seed-bearing plant may be a dwarf, little
more than an inch or two high, or a vigorous branching plant three feet high
with many pods. The stem leaves are for the most part arrow-shaped, with
two sharp ear-like projections, one on each side of the stem. The flowers are
small and white. The only part of the plant which seems to be constant is
the seed pod, which is flat, triangular in shape, J of an inch long,
wedge-shaped at the base, notched at the top with the outer angles rounded.
Each pod contains about 20 seeds. These [Plate 53, fig. 5 — natural* size and
enlarged 4 times] are small, ¥JT of an inch, oblong, reddish brown, the sur-
face dull and punctured. When put in water, they produce a large amount
of mucilage and a covering of rather long but very fine transparent hairs.

Time of Flowering : Throughout the season.
Occurrence : Throughout Canada, in all soils.
Propagation : By seed only.

Injury : The injuries due to this prolific weed are not, I think, fully
appreciated by farmers. It has an enormous power of propagation, a single
plant will ripen 50,000 seeds. It spreads rapidly and sometimes takes entire
possession of land. It will thrive in all kinds of soil; is of a succulent nature
and absorbs a large amount of moisture from the soil. In meadows which
have been thinned by winter, the vigorous rosettes of autumn-started plants
will crowd out grass and clover. The seed is found in all small commercial
seeds. Mr. Willing reports it as doing serious damage in wheat fields in the
North-west.

Remedy : Although so aggressive and persistent, this weed can be easily
destroyed if farmers understand how much injury it may do them. The
small central root is easily cut by hoe or cultivator, and the plant is not re-
markable for vitality. Constant hoeing in gardens and early summer-fallow-
ing with frequent cultivation will easily clear infested farm lands.

* The figure to show the natural size is slightly too large.

27

PLATE 9.

STINKWEED, Thlaspl arocnse, L.
Other English names: Penny-cress, French Weed.
(Noxious: Dom., Man., N.W.)

Introduced. Annual and winter annual, with an abominable smell when
bruised. The most persistent and aggressive enemy of the western wheat
grower. Plants in bloom when winter sets in freeze up; but, as soon as they
thaw out in the spring, they continue to grow and mature their seed without
the slightest injury. The seeds of these early plants are ripe early in July.
Plants which grow from seed in the spring are not ripe until some weeks later.
Erect, stem simple or branching. Whole plant bright green and quite
smooth. Eoot leaves petioled; stem leaves spear-shaped, coarsely toothed,
clasping the stem at the arrow-shaped base. Flowers clear white, one-eighth
of an inch across. At first in a small flat cluster at the top of the leafy stem.
Kacemes elongated in fruit. Pods flat, f of an inch across, contain-
ing from 8 to 16 seeds, on slender upward-curved pedicels, pale green and
winged, notched at the top. Just before the seeds ripen, the pods turn
to a characteristic greenish orange shade, which is easily noticed in fields
when this weed is growing among crops. Seeds [Plate 53, fig. 6 — natural
size and enlarged 8 times] deep purplish brown, asymmetrically oval in
outline, flattened, with rounded edges, about T'^ of an inch across, a
little longer than broad. The surface of the seed has on each face five or six
loop-like lines, which start at the basal scar or notch and run concentrically
around a central groove, which starts between the radicle and the seed leaves.
The seed is a beautiful object when examined under a magnifying glass.
It is also interesting from having the seed leaves, inside the seed, flat and
with the radicle lying along their edges on one side (accumbent). There is
no mucilage developed on these seeds when soaked in water.

Time of Flowering : Throughout the season ; seed ripe from July to frost,
and after the middle of June too far advanced to be ploughed down without
danger.

Propagation : By seeds.

Occurrence : Stinkweed is now found in every province of Canada, but
it is nowhere such a terrible pest to the farmer as in Manitoba and the North-
west. It was introduced on to the prairies at the time of the first settlers,
and its worst occurrences to-day are along the lines of the old trails ; but it
is rapidly spreading into new districts.

Injury: On account of the great loss due to the presence on land of this
noxious weed, it is of the utmost importance that everyone should know its
appearance, so as to destroy it whenever it shows itself in a new locality.
The North-west Government, through their Chief Weed Inspector, Mr. T.
N. Willing, have adopted the wise plan of publishing an accurate and easily
recognized coloured picture of this weed. This was not only issued in their
Bulletin No. 16, "Hints for the Grain Grower," by Mr. Willing;
but, in addition, a copy of it was put in every school in the Territories so
that teachers and students might become familiar with the appearance of

28

Plate 9

STINKW&&D OR P&NNYCR&SS

(Thlaspi arvense./. .)

Stinkweed. This pest is found in the greatest abundance in the rich lands
of the Red Eiver valley, where it flourishes with remarkable vigour and where
great difficulty is experienced in controlling it, on account of the distribution
of the seeds by spring floods. There are also in other parts of the Province
and in the North-western Provinces and British Columbia, certain districts
where this weed has established itself thoroughly and where it is causing
great loss.

Remedy : Hand-pulling and burning is probably the best way of stamp-
ing out Stinkweed in new localities and on small areas ; but, when it is thor-
oughly established, more drastic measures must be adopted. These are all
based on some operation by which the seeds are covered up so as to get them
to germinate, and then the young plants are destroyed with harrow, culti-
vator or plough, before they ripen seeds. The land should be cultivated per-
sistently as soon as a fresh growth of the weed has developed, and great care
must be taken not to plough down any full-sized seed pods, even although
they may be green, as it has been proved that seeds in such a state of develop-
ment, can ripen beneath the soil in the dry climate of the West. On land
which is to be summer-fallowed, if there is a heavy growth of this weed with
fully formed seed pods, the plants should be first mowed down, removed
from the field and piled on a piece of hard land where, after drying, they can
be burnt. Mr. Willing says truly: "Close attention should be given to any
portion of a farm where Stinkweed has been noticed, and careful persistent
work will be required to eradicate it; but it should not be forgotten that it
will pay well to drop all other work and fight this weed when it is first
noticed." If a crop on new ploughing or summer fallow is noticed, early in
the season, to be infested, the field should be thoroughly worked on the sur-
face with a weeder or a light harrow with sloping teeth, as described under
Wild Mustard at page 24, beginning the work when the grain is three inches
high and repeating the operation once or twice- afterwards in bad cases. It
will be found that this destroys an enormous number of small weed seedlings
and improves the grain crop very much. It is, I feel confident, the most im-
portant remedial measure which can be adopted to clear land of Stinkweed.
Experiments of recent years in the Red River valley have shown this to be
the case ; and the remarkable sight may there be seen, of clean fields giving
crops of fortj- bushels to the acre, with others close to them bearing not more
than from ten to twelve bushels of grain, the difference being entirely due
to the presence of Stinkweed in the one case and to its having been harrowed
out in the other. A treatment which has given good results is to run a disk
or harrow over stubble as soon as the crop is carried, so as to start into growth
the seeds near the surface. The following spring, harrow or cultivate these
plants down; and, as soon as a growth of fresh plants starts, plough the land
and harrow at once. This land may be sown late to a green feed crop, or it
may be kept under a clean fallow for the whole season if the land can be
spared. The following spring any growth of weeds should be cultivated
down before sowing the crop. An excellent plan which will enable a farmer
to take a rest in this fight, so as to attend to other parts of his farm,- is to
seed down with Brome Grass or Western Rye-grass, fifteen pounds to the acre,
in the western provinces, or to Timothy or Western Rye-grass in Manitoba.
Such fields will require mowing occasionally during the first season to prevent
seeds ripening. The grass will choke out even the Stinkweed after the first
year. When the sod is ploughed up again, some seeds will germinate; but
these can be dealt with, as before. The seeds of Stinkweed are very easily
carried on threshing mnohines and other implements, so these should be care-
fully examined when coming from a district infested with Stinkweed on to a
clean farm. Where only a small patch occurs on a farm, the greatest care

29

must be exercised in treating it, if there are any ripe seeds, for these may be
carried easily in mud attached to a boot or to the feet of horses and other
animals, as well as on the wheels of vehicles.

The use of the name •Stinkweed is recommended for this plant in prefer-
ence to all others sometimes used. It is one of the worst weed enemies a
farmer in the West has to fight. The use of this objectionable name does
much to identify it, and there is no doubt that it has spread widely from not
being recognized when it first appeared in new districts. The name "French
Weed," very much used in Manitoba, is a senseless name for such a persistent
enemy, because it tells nothing about the plant, and it is most doubtful whe-
ther the early French settlers in Manitoba were the means of its introduction.

S-t-i-n-k is a small word with a big meaning, easily understood by any-
one who has ever handled Stinkweed, or tasted milk or butter from a cow
which has eaten it.

Stinkweed is so called on account of its abominable smell.

30

V OF THE

yNIVERSlTY

OF

^'

PlatelO

PEPPE-RGRASS

(Lepidium apehalum.uvw I

PLATE 1O.

PEPPERGRASS, LepiJium apetalum, Willd.
Other Latin name : Lepidium intermedium, Gray.

Native. Annual and winter annual. Stems erect, profusely branching
above, 6 inches to 2 feet high, somewhat hoary, with short appressed hairs.
Autumn plants produce a rosette of dark green deeply indented leaves,
much like some specimens of Shepherd's-purse, but more succulent. Stem
leaves with a few coarse teeth, narrowed at the base. The many ascending
and spreading branches give this plant, when in seeTf, -the appearance of H
miniature tree, the very numerous small nearly round flat pods taking the
place of leaves ; the real leaves of the plant fall away early when the seeds
begin to ripen. Although there are only two seeds in each pod, a very large
amount of seed is produced by each plant. The flowers are minute, and the
seed pods about ^ of an inch wide, heart-shaped, slightly longer than
wide, notched at the tip; these separate into two valves in the same way
as in the Stinkweed; but in this plant there is only a single seed in each
valve. The seeds [Plate 53, fig. 7— natural size, and enlarged 8 times] are
egg-shaped in outline, much flattened, blunt on one edge, and very thin at
the other, where there is a more or less apparent narrow wing ; each flattened
side shows a rather deep groove between the radicle and the seed leaves, ex-
tending three parts of the way up the centre of the seed from the base. The
basal scar of attachment is white, and projects somewhat from the outline
of the seed. The colour of the seed coat is bright reddish-yellow. The
wetted seeds give off a large supply of mucilage, the transparent hairs are
of medium length and fewer in number than in Shepherd's-purse and False-
flax. The embryo is incumbent, the radicle lying down the back of one of
the seed-leaves, which is the easiest character by which this species and its
olose allies may be distinguished from the very similar Lepidium mrginicum.
This latter species, however, is very rare in Canada, and nowhere occurs as

a weed.

«

Time of Flowering : June, July, seed ripe on early plants by the end
of June.

Propagation : By seeds.

Occurrence : Throughout the Dominion, but seldom complained of as a
weed in the East, except in clover in the clover-seed-growing districts of On-
tario, and in grain crops of the West, where it crowds out crops grown on
stubble, particularly on light land and in a wet spring.

Injury : Peppergrass has frequently been the cause of considerable loss
in the West under the conditions mentioned above. This is from the autumn
grown plants which get a start before the grain crop and choke it out with
their thick vigorous growth. The seed is a frequent impurity in grass and
clover seed.

Remcdi/ : Clearing land of Peppergrass is an easy matter, because the
plants which do harm are those which germinate in the autumn. Disking
land in autumn or early spring, before the new growth of roots takes place,
will clear it entirely of this weed. If the work is not done earlv in spring

31

the deep tap roots send out many side branches, and it will be necessary to
use a duck-foot cultivator to cut the plants off or to give the land a light
spring ploughing. On land which is to be summer-fallowed, patches of this
weed should be mowed before ploughing; or, unless the weak is done very
early, many seeds will be turned down in a condition to grow. Summer-
fallowing, from almost all considerations, should be done as early in spring
as other farm work will permit of; the best time is directly after seeding is
finished.

When clover is to be cut for seed, it will pay to mow with a scythe or
pull by hand any plants of Peppergrass seen on bare spots.

FIELD PEPPERGRASS or Cow CRESS, Lepidium campestre, R.Br., occurs
in a few places in western Ontario, and the seeds have been found from time
to time in clover seed in the market. They resemble very much in a super-
ficial way the seeds of Hare's-ear Mustard. They are about the same size
and colour, but are of a redder shade of brown, and are of a rather different
shape. When examined they can be easily recognized. The Field Pepper-
grass has seeds one-twelfth of an inch long, egg-shaped, but pointed at the
scar end. The surface is finely roughened and dull, with apparently a mealy
surface. This is due to the copious coat of mucilage, mixed with long
gelatinous hairs, which is developed when the seeds are soaked in water.
The space between the radicle and seed leaves is shown by a deep but narrow
groove with sharp edges, extending from the sharp basal end almost to the
top of the seed. The plant grows with two or three stems from the same
root. These are corymbosely branched above, with a few ascending branches.
The lower leaves are oblong, and not toothed. Those of the stem are spear-
shaped with blunt ends, a few large shallow teeth and an arrow-shaped base.
The thick seed pods are broadly ovate, boat-shaped, being rounded below,
and hollowed out above. They are prominently keeled below, and are
roughened with short fleshy prominences ; they stand out stiffly from the
stem on pedicels of about their own length. Each pod contains two seeds.
The plant is a biennial, and is as yet rare in Canada, occurring only, as far
as evidenced by the seeds, in the clover-growing districts of Ontario, and at
one or two other points in the eastern counties of the same Province.

THE PINK FAMILY, CARYOPHYLLACE&.

The Pink family, which contains several beautiful garden flowers, also
embraces some troublesome weeds, the seeds of which are frequently found
in clover and grass seeds. The characters are well marked. All the weeds
are herbs with brittle stems, articulated and thickened at the joints, fre-
quently forked. Leaves entire, generally opposite and joining round the
stem at the base. The flowers usually borne in corymbs, regular, of 4 or
5 parts, or double those numbers, with or without petals; stamens nearly
always normally 10; by deficiency, sometimes only 5, 4, or 3; styles 2 to 5,
rarely united into one. Seeds usually many, attached to the base or to a cen-
tral column of the solitary 1-celled (rarely 3 to 5 celled) pod, which opens at
the top by as many or twice as many teeth as there are styles. The numer-
ous seeds often kidney-shaped, and embossed with tubercles. The embryo in
most of our weeds is curved so that the apex and base come close together
around a central mass of albumen. The seeds do not develop mucilage
when soaked in water. There are two tribes of these plants : the Cockles,
with the sepals united into a tube, and the Chickweeds, in which the sepals
are distinct or nearly so.

32

• • r >s

OF THE

UNIVERSITY

OF

Plate I

r

COW COCKLE

Vaccana V a c c a r i a . '/. / /</•<»«» >

PLATE 11.

COW COCKLE, Vaccaria Vaccaria (L.) Britton.

Other English names : Cowherb, China Cockle.

Other Latin names : Saponaria Vaccaria, L. ; Vaccaria vulgaris, Host.

(Noxious: N.W.)

Annual. Introduced from Southern Europe. Stem simple, branching
above or much branched from the base, 1 to 2| feet. Whole plant, smooth,
succulent and glaucous (gray-green like a cabbage). Leaves ovate-lanceo-
late, clasping the stem. Flowers pale rose-pink, ^ inch across, in loose
corymbose cymes. Calyx ovate, 5-ribbed and much inflated, and wing-
angled in fruit. The smooth roundish capsules contain about 20 round,
hard, dull black seeds [Plate 55, fig. 48 — natural size and enlarged 4 times]
about TV of an inch in diameter. These seeds are often confounded
with and spoken of as the seeds of wild vetches; they can be told from these
of a similar size, by their minutely roughened surface, or by cutting them
open after soaking, when the entirely different embryo which lies in a circle
around the seed just beneath the seed-coat will be seen. It in no way re-
sembles the inside of a vetch or pea, which have two easily separable seed
leaves.

Time of Flowering: July; seeds ripe in August.

Propagation : By seeds only.

Occurrence : As a troublesome weed, only in the Prairie Provinces.

Injury : Abundant in grain fields in Manitoba, and the North-western
Provinces. This succulent plant absorbs much moisture, and its branching
head crowds out crops. Prof. Hitchcock quotes Prof. Aven Nelson, that in
1896 it was the worst weed of Wyoming grain fields, specially in spring
wheat ; and Prof . Crandall reported that in 1893 it was so abundant in grain
fields of Colorado as to rank among the worst weeds. (Nevada Weeds III.
Nevada Agr. Exp. Station, Bui. 38.)

Cow Cockle is particularly abundant and injurious in Southern Mani-
toba. The seeds are also suspected of having poisonous properties similar to
those of Purple Cockle.

Remedy : As the seeds do not ripen very early, early summer fallow-
ing at short regular intervals will control this weed. The plants when in
bloom are very conspicuous and often large. Hand-pulling at that time has
been found very effective in the Mennonite settlements. The thorough clean-
ing of all seed grain is ••'ery advisable with this weed, as the indications are
that the seeds do not retain their vitality very long. Seeding down would
also crowd out any plants which came up the first year, and prevent them
from forming many seeds. Harrowing growing grain crops kills many of
the tender succulent seedlings.

(3) 33

PLATE 12.
NIGHT-FLOWERING CATCHFLY, Silene nodiflora, L.

Other English name : Sticky Cockle.

Other Latin name : Melandrium noctiflorum, Fries.

(Noxious: Dom.)

Annual and winter annual. Introduced. Erect, 1 to 3 feet high, some-
what branching; whole plant covered with soft spreading glandular hairs.
Lower leaves obovate, narrowed at the base; stem leaves lanceolate. Flow-
ers few, erect, in, a branching cyme, nearly an inch across, pinkish inside,
yellowish white outside, opening at night ; petals deeply divided ; styles 3 ;
capsule elongate ovoid, with 6 apical teeth; calyx at first cylindrical, after-
wards broadly ovoid, with 5 long teeth at the apex, and marked with 10
prominent green nerves. Seeds [Plate 53, fig. 10 — natural size and en-
larged 6 times] in size and ornamentation much as in Bladder Campion,
grayish brown, with a tiny black tip to each tubercle.

Time of Flowering : June to autumn ; seed ripening in July and till
frost.

Propagation : By seeds only.

Occurrence : Throughout the Dominion. Yery abundant in the East,
particularly in thin clover fields and in gardens; rather rare in the West,
where it is a comparatively recent introduction.

Injury: A. rank grower and a heavy seeder. The greatest injury is
perhaps due to the frequency of the seeds in clover and grass seed, and the
great difficulty in separating them.

Remedy : This weed is easily destroyed by ordinary methods, and, like
all weeds, yields to a regular short rotation of crops. In clover grown for
seed it should be hand-pulled as soon as the flowers show. Every care should
be taken to sow high class clover seed free of the seeds of this Cockle.

\J

NIGHT-PLOWERING CATCHFLYoR STICKY COCKLE

(Silene nochflora. /,.*

. \ >

V of THE

UNIVERSITY

Plate 13

,

WHITE COCKLE

(Lychnis alba,.i/-//

PLATE 13.

WHITE COCKLE, Lychnis alba, Mill.

Other English names. Evening Lychnis, White Campion.

Other Latin names : Lychnis vespertina, Sib. ; L, dioica, L. ; Silene pra-
tensis, Godr. and Gren.

(Noxious : Dom.)

Sparingly introduced in Ontario. Biennial or short-lived perennial.
Rootstock thick, sending up a few short barren shoots and long decumbent
branching flowering stems 1 to 2£ feet high. Whole plant rather viscid
hairy, not so much so as in the Sticky Cockle, which plant it resembles
somewhat, but is wider branching, has many stems, the leaves are larger
and the flowers, which are much more numerous, are pure white, with a
more conspicuous crown of short white scales around the centre ; the male
and female, flowers are on separate plants. Styles 5, not 3 as in Sticky
Cockle, and the capsule has 10 teeth at the top instead of 6 as in that
species. When mature, the calyx containing the capsule is in the White
Cockle much larger and more swollen ; the seeds [Plate 53, fig. 11 — natural
size and enlarged 8 times] are paler gray and rather larger than in Bladder
Campion and Sticky Cockle.

Time of Flowering : June ; seeds ripe in July.
Propagation : By seeds only.

Occurrence : Grain crops and meadows. The White Cockle is by no
means a common weed in Canada, but has been introduced occasionally with
crop seeds imported from Europe. In the vicinity of Guelph, it is abund-
ant and troublesome, and it also occurs in a few other places in western
Ontario.

Injury : Crowding crops ; seeds an impurity in grass and clover seeds.
This is a very persistent weed. Professor Day, of the Guelph Agricul-
tural College, states that the roots are fleshy and hard to kill, unless
dragged right up to the surface of the soil. If there is a little earth cover-
ing any part of them, they will grow and try to produce seed. When
spudded below the surface, they will grow again but do not produce seed" that
season ; persistent spiidding is effective.

Remedy : A regular short rotation with frequent introduction of hoed
crops. In meadows mow often to prevent seed from forming.

35

PLATE 14.

PURPLE COCKLE, Lychnis Githago, Lam.

Other English name : Corn Cockle (used in England, where wheat is
generally spoken of as "corn";.

Other Latin name : Agrostem/ma Githago, L.

(Noxious; Dom., N.W.)

Introduced. Annual and winter annual. Erect, 1 to 3 feet high;
branches few; whole plant covered with soft silky hairs; not viscid. Leaves
long and narrow, pointed, 2 to 5 inches long. Flowers purple, at the tips
of the stems and branches, 1| inches across; the petals notched at the apex,
paler toward the center; calyx ovoid, much swollen in fruit, with the ribs
very prominent, and the teeth long and conspicuous. Capsule ovoid, with
five teeth at apex. Seeds [Plate 55, fig. 49 — natural size and enlarged 4
times] pitchy black, varying from TV to £ of an inch in diameter, somewhat
flattened, rounded triangular; the thin edge notched by the scar of attach-
ment. Rough, covered with rows of short teeth.

Time of Flowering : July ; seed ripe in August.
Propagation : By seed.
Occurrence : Grain fields.

Injury : An impurity in grain. The seed when ground with grain dis-
colours the flour and renders it unwholesome, owing to the poisonous prin-
ciple sapotoxin, which is found in this plant and some other Cockles.

Remedy : Thorough cleaning of seed grain. Hand-pulling when in
small quantity. In districts where fall wheat is sown extensively, spring
grains, should be substituted for some time.

36

Plate 14

PURPLE- COCKLE-

Lychnis Cihhago. in/,,, i

OF THE

UNIVERSITY )

of

Of THE

WNIVERSITY

OF

Plate 15

CHICKWE-&D .

(Sl-ellaria media, .v.

PLATE 15.

COMMON CH1CKWEED, Stdlaria media, Smith.

Other English name : Chickweed.

Othsr Latin names : Alsinc media, L. ; Stellaria media, With.

Introduced. Annual. Succulent, diffusely branching, decumbent.
Roots hair-like and exceedingly tough. Leaves ovate, the lower ones with
ciliate-hairy petioles. Stems bearing a conspicuous stripe of articulated
hairs down one side. Flowers J inch in diameter, star-shaped, numerous,
solitary from the axils of the leaves, in old plants in terminal leafy cymes ;
petals white, about the length of the thin-margined calyx lobes. Capsules
conic-ovoid, spreading or deflexed, longer than the calyx. Seeds [Plate 53,
%• 12— natural size and enlarged 8 times] small, ^ of an inch in diameter;
wedge-kidney-shaped, flattened and coarsely tuberculate, the tubercles ar-
ranged in regular curved rows, about 5 on each side and 4 on the edge. Col-
our, yellowish brown to dark brown.

Time of Flowering: At all times of the year, except during frost; seed
ripening continuously.

Propagation. By seed.

Occurrence : This well known little weed occurs in all parts of Canada
where the soil is moist and rich.

Injury : Choking out smaller and weaker plants, including seedlings
of all crops. A persistent grower requiring constant hoeing to keep it down.
Seeds often found in grass and clover seeds.

Remedy : Constant hoeing.

An occasional weed in the Maritime Provinces is the GRASS-LEAVED or
LESSER STITCHWORT, Stellaria graminea, L., a wide branching plant 1 to 2
feet high, with many grassy leaves in pairs along the slender stems and
bearing many starry white flowers nearly \ inch across. The seeds [Plate
53, fig. 13 — twice nat. size and enlarged 8 times] are often found in clover and
grass seeds; they are of the same size but more nearly circular in outline
and rounder in contour than those of the Common Chickweed; the surface
markings are quite different; instead of tubercles, the surface is thickly
covered with short curved ridges in more or less regular rows.

Somewhat similar to the Common Chickweed but easily distinguished
from it, are the Mouse-ear Chickweeds, two or three of which occur in Can-
ada as agricultural weeds. These are plants of much the same habit as the
above, but covered all over with downy hairs, which in some species are
glandular, giving a dirty appearance to the plants by reason of the dust
which adheres to them.

THE COMMON MOUSE-EAR CHICKWEED, Cerastium vulgatum, L., is a
perennial plant which occurs in cultivated land, pastures and lawns through-
out Canada. The pods are much elongated and curved upwards. The
seeds [Plate 53, fig. 14 — natural size and enlarged 8 times] resemble those
of the Common Chickweed but have the tubercles fewer, less regularly ar-

37

ranged and more of the nature of short ridges than of low raised promin-
ences as in the former species. The shape too is rather more angular, and
they are not much more than half the size.

The FIELD CHICKWEED, Cerastium arvense, L., is in some places a trouble-
some and persistent weed. A native form occurs abundantly throughout
the western prairies, but gives little trouble. In some parts of Ontario,
Quebec and the Maritime Provinces there is a form with smoother leaves,
which produces a copious system of underground rootstocks, which enables
this plant to become a persistent enemy. Pastures or meadows invaded by
it must be broken up and cleaned by a short rotation. The flowers of the
Field Chickweed are large and conspicuous, more than | inch across, and
borne on erect flowering stems 3 to 6 inches high. In the West the plant
is sometimes grown as a garden flower for its beauty. The seed is larger
than those of the preceding Chickweeds, almost round and coarsely tuber-
culate, with rounded prominences.

38

Plate 16

BLADDER CAMPION

(Silene inf I aha. .v /»///, )

PLATE 16.

BLADDER CAMPION, Silene inflata, Smith.

Other English names : Cow-bell, White Bottle.

Other Latin names : Cucubalus Behen, L. ; Silene Cucubalus, Wibel. ;
Silene vulgaris (Moench) Garcke; Behen vulgaris, Moench.

Introduced. Perennial, with deep running rootstocks, which send up
many barren shoots, and decumbent branched flowering stems. Whole plant
pale green and in the common form perfectly smooth. Stems 1 foot to 18
inches high, forming large tufts. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, in pairs, meeting
round the stems. Flowers white, nearly an inch across, drooping, the petals
deeply divided. Calyx much inflated, pale green, veined with light purple,
5-toothed at the contracted apex. Capsule globular-ovoid, included in the
calyx, opening by 5 short recurved teeth. Seeds [Plate 53, fig. 9 — twice natu-
ral size and enlarged 8 times] round-kidney-shaped, about -^ of an inch across,
covered with concentric rows of small conical tubercles. The seeds of this
species and of Silene noctiflora and Lychnis alba are so similar that they can
be separated only by an expert. In many instances some seeds of one species
resemble those of one of the other two so much that they are indistinguishable.
In Plate 53, seeds of the three species have been represented which seemed
best to show the average characters of each.

Time of Flowering : May to July ; seeds ripe in July.
Propagation : By seeds and running rootstocks.

Occurrence : By roadsides, on railway banks and in hay fields, all
through the Eastern Provinces.

Injury : The seeds are often found in clover and timothy seed.

Remedy : This deep-rooted perennial is difficult to eradicate. Deep
ploughing and a short rotation of crops are necessary. Frequent cultiva-
tion with a broad-shared cultivator will be found very useful in holding this
pernicious weed in check.

The young shoots of this plant have been used as a pot-herb, and are
said to be excellent, having the flavour of both asparagus and green peas.

39

PLATE 17.

SPURREY, Spergula arvensis, L.

Other English names : Corn Spurrey, Sandweed, Pickpurse.

Introduced. Annual. Stems ascending, branching from the base, 6 to 18
inches high, almost smooth, sparingly glandular hairy above. Leaves nar-
rowly linear 1 to 2 inches long, apparently whorled at the joints of the stem,
but really clustered at the joints in two opposite sets of 6 to 8 together,' with
scale-like stipules between them. Flowers white, opening in sunshine, £
inch across, in terminal forked cymes; peduncles deflexed in fruit. Seeds
lens-shaped or round and compressed, with the margins extended into a
narrow wing, dull black, the marginal wing pale. The surface of the seed
is more or less covered with small pale-coloured elongated protuberances,
like gland-tipped hairs. These are sometimes entirely wanting, when the
plant is called variety saiiva. Both the small protuberances and the wing
are sometimes lost by friction when the seeds occur among other sceJs. The
seeds [Plate 53, fig. 8— natural size and enlarged 8 times] vary much in size,
but average about TV of an inch in diameter. The embryo is cylindrical and
spirally coiled within the seed.

Time of Flowering: July; seed ripe July- August.
Propagation : By seed.

Occurrence : Occasional in fields and waste places throughout Canada,
but frequent in grain fields in the Eastern Provinces, and in parts of liritish
Columbia. Sometimes sown as feed for sheep or as a binder of soil on sandy
land.

Injury : Troublesome on sandy land in the Maritime Provinces and in
British Columbia. The seeds are frequently found in grass and clover seeds.

Remedy: Short rotation of crops. Frequent hoeing early in the season.

40

Plate 17

SPORREY

Spergula arvensis. /.. )

Plate 18

PURSLANEoR PUSLEY

I Porhulaca olerace a , A.)

PLATE 18.

PURSLANE, Portulaca oleracca, L.
Other English names : Pusley, Wild Portulaca.

Introduced. Annual, of tropical origin, now found in gardens in most
parts of Canada. Seeds germinating rather late. A fleshy prostrate per-
fectly smooth plant, freely branching from a single central root, with red-
dish stems and dark green alternate, wedge-shaped leaves mainly clustered
at the ends of the branches. Flowers sessile, solitary, about f- inch across,
with a two-cleft calyx and 5 small yellow petals ; stamens 7 to 12, style 4 to
6-cleft. Capsule membranous, many-seeded, the top coming off as the lid
of a box. Seeds [Plate 53, fig. 15 — natural size and enlarged 8 times] black,
roughened but shining, about jV of an inch in diam<>u>r, narrowly
kidney-shaped, much as in the Pink family and, like the seeds of most of the
members of that family, having the embryo curved and running around the
outside of the seed.

Time of Flowering : July till frost, and seeds ripening for the greater
part of that time.

Propagation : By seeds. The fleshy leaves and stems give it such vital-
ity that flowering plants hoed out and left on the ground will continue ripen-
ing seeds for weeks.

Occurrence : In rich land and particularly in gardens. Most abundant
in the Eastern Provinces ; but being constantly introduced into new localities
with seeds.

Injury : Although Purslane is an annual without any running root, and
does not appear until late in the season, it is perhaps more difficult to extir-
pate than almost any other weed found on rich soil.

Remedy : Constant shallow hoeing, particularly when the young plants
first appear, is the only way to control this weed. If left until the plants
have attained a large size and the flowers have formed, they must be raked
up after hoeing and removed from the land.

THE PEA FAMILY, LEGUM1NOS.-L

This large and important family of plants is well represented in Can-
ada and contains many useful food plants, such as peas and beans and the
clovers, but also some very poisonous species, as the Loco Weeds, Oxytropis,
and the Golden Bean, Thcrmopsis, of the western plains, as well as a 'small
number of farm weeds of secondary importance. All plants of the Pea fam-
ily serve a useful purpose as collectors of nitrogen from the air, which they
render available for plant food.

Every species can be recognized as belonging to this family by one or
other of two characters, both of which are peculiar to it, namely, a butterfly-
shaped corolla, such as we find on a large scale in the Sweet Pea of our gar-
dens, and, for a fruit, a pod like that of the same plant or of the garden pea,
technically termed a legume. By far the larger number of the plants have
both characters combined.

Mention may be made of the following, which are sometimes detrimental
in farm lands. The WILD TAKE, Vicia angustifolia, Roth, is an introduced
annual in the Eastern Provinces, which, on account of its early ripening, is

41

difficult to get rid of; the leaves are compound, of 8 to 16 linear or lanceolate
leaflets ; the flowers purple, 1 or 2 in the upper axils of the leaves ; the pods
are black and linear, with the tip sharp and turned up, 2 inches long, 4 to
12-seeded, the seeds [Plate 55, fig. 50 — natural size and enlarged 4 times]
globose, ranging from £ to TV of an inch in diameter, velvety black or
olive brown mottled with white and dotted with fine black points.
The Wild Tare is somewhat like the cultivated Tare, Vicia saliva, L., so val-
uable for fodder and known to some farmers as Vetches or Fitches. This lat-
ter has much larger leaves and seeds, with brown pods, and, what is of trreat
importance when sown, does not persist in the land. To eradicate this pest
a short rotation in which clover is included will be found most useful. After
harvest, cultivation will help by causing many seeds to germinate which
will be killed by the winter.

The PURPLE TUFTED VETCH, Vicia Cracca, L., a persistent perennial, is
rather difficult to get out of old meadows but produces a large crop of rich
fodder, which is rather beneficial than otherwise in hay.

The seed-pods of a few members of the Pea family become burs in wool, as
for instance the Spotted and Toothed Medicks, Medicago maculata, Willd.,
and M. denticulata, Willd., neither of which, however, has established
itself firmly in Canada. The only plant of this family, giving trouble in
this way, is the Wild Liquorice, Glycyrrhiza lepidota, Pursh, which occurs
on the prairies. The Sweet Clovers, MeUlotus alba. Lam., and M. officinalis,
Willd., often complained of by farmers, are biennial wayside weeds, which,
as each plant lives for 2 years only, are easily subdued by preventing them
from seeding. The Rabbit's-foot Clover, Trifoli-um arvense, L., is a useless
member of the family which is not common in Canada and is of little im-
portance.

THE ROSE FAMILY, ROSACE&.

The Rose family is more remarkable for ornamental plants than for
those which may be considered agricultural pests. The family is extensive,
and there are gathered together within its limits plants with regular flowers,
by which their relationship can at once be seen but which present the great-
est diversity of characters in the fruit. In the Spira?as or Meadowsweets we
find the seeds in small, many-seeded, papery pockets called follicles. In the
true roses the lower part of the calyx is fleshy and urn-like, holding many
hairy achenes. In the raspberry the fruit is composed of many fleshy ber-
ries surrounding a dome-like receptacle. In the strawberry it is the recep-
tacle which becomes fleshy and bears the seeds (achenes) sunk in little pits
on its surface. In the Cinquefoils both the receptacle and the seeds are dry,
and the markings on the hard shell of the latter are of great service in sep-
arating some of the closely allied species. In the species of Avens (Geum)
and Dryas the achenes are prolonged into the persistent styles, which are
jointed or hooked above or are feathery.

Of the small number of weeds belonging to the Rose family, it is sad to
relate that one of the most troublesome is the beautiful Prairie Rose, Rosa
pratinflola, Greene, (which includes also Rosa acicularis, var. Bourgeaui-
ana, and Rosa arkansana of Canadian writers). In Southern Manitoba this
dwarf, large-flowered rose is found very persistent in grain fields by reason
of its deep-rooted perennial underground stems, which send up many flower-
ing shoots from the axils of scales on the rootstocks. To destroy Roses, the
land should be ploughed with a sharp plough in hot weather and then disked
twice afterwards at intervals of a week or ten days. Mr. T. N. Willing re-
commends spring ploughing rather than stubble cropping for land which is
infested with Wild Roses and similar shrubs. The irregular, angular seeds,
with hard, whitish shells [Plate 55, fiar. 51 — natural size and enlarged 4
times] are often found in the screenings of western grain.

42

THE HARDHACK, Spircea tomentosa, L., is a pretty dwarf shrub, 2 to 3
feet, with short petioled, ovate, thick, toothed leaves, which are smooth above
but downy beneath. The pink flowers are in dense steeple-like panicles at
the tips of the erect branches. This shrub invades mountain pastures in the
Province of Quebec and is very hard to keep down. Where pastures cannot
be ploughed, the tufts must be pulled out by the roots and the spots sown
with a quick-growing grass such as Orchard Grass, or the patches may be
mowed down with a heavy, sharp scythe and grass sown. If there are
enough sheep in the pasture, they will keep down the new shoots.

SILVEEWEED, Potentilla Anserina, Jj., is sometimes found in damp land.
It is a perennial with slender jointed runners, which root and form new plants
at each joint. The leaves, silvery hairy beneath, are pinnate, with from 3
to 10 large ovate, sharply-toothed leaflets on each side, with very small ones
between them. The long-stalked golden yellow flowers, nearly an inch
across, are followed by a cluster of dry, smooth achenes. Silverweed roots
on the surface of the land like a strawberry and is best controlled by drain-
ing the land and ploughing down the plants.

THE UPRIGHT CINQTTEFOIL, Potentilla norvegica, L., is an erect, branch-
ing, hairy annual with small yellow flowers and small kidney-shaped achenes
with curved branching grooves on the surface. It grows commonly in mea-
dows, and the seeds are frequent among grass and clover seeds. This is the
Potentilla monspeliensis , L., of late floras.

THE EVENING-PRIMROSE FAMILY, ONAGRACE&.

There are a few weeds belonging to this family and many showy flower-
ing plants, as the beautiful Fuchsias, Clarkias and Evening-primroses. The
structure of the flowers is botanically of much interest ; but, as the plants
of this order which are troublesome as weeds are easily recognized, there is
no need to speak of them here. The more noticeable of the weedy plants
are, a few kinds of Willowherbs (Epilobium) which are also known as "fire-
weeds." The commonest kinds occurring on cultivated land are the Great
Willowherb or Fireweed, Epilobium, angustifolium, L., and the Sticky Fire-
weed, Epilobium adenocaulon, Haussk. These are rather persistent on wet
land, the former from its running perennial rootstocks and the latter chiefly
from the great number of downy seeds it produces. Of the Evening-prim-
roses, two species require mention, the White-stemmed Evening-primrose,
and the COMMON EVENING-PEIMBOSE, (Enothera biennis, L., with large yel-
Inw flowers. This tall, coarse biennial occurs throughout the country and is
easily recognized by its tall branching habit (4 ft. by 3 ft.), its soft,
downy lanceolate leaves and its large, showy yellow flowers, which open
in the evening. This weed makes only a rosette of leaves the first year.
For this reason it is a weed only in crops sown in autumn or on stubble. In
thin clover fields it sometimes occurs conspicuously and should be either
spudded out or cut off below the crown in the first season, or the tall flower-
ing plants should be cut off below the surface of the soil and pulled out be-
fore the seeds ripen. This will disturb the soil much less than if the large,
wide, spreading roots are pulled out. On stubble land to be sown to grain,
the rosette-like plants should be destroyed by fall or spring cultivation.

The seeds [Plate 53, fig. 17, natural size and enlarged 8 timesl are a
frequent impurity in clover seed. They are produced in large numbers in
long tapering 4-celled capsules which are clustered all along the stems.
The dark reddish brown seeds are about yV pf an inch in length, much
angled by compression in the seed pods and with a roughened surface. As
the pods do not easily shed their seeds and the plants are at all times con-
spicuous, much contamination of clover seed may be prevented with a little
caro nt harvest time.

43

PLATE 19.

WHITE EVENING-PRIMROSE, Anogra pallida (Lindley) Britton,
var. leptophylla, Nutt.

Other English name : White-stemmed Evening-primrose.

Other Latin name : (Enothera albicaulis, Nutt. and Canadian authors.

Native. Perennial. Stems mostly simple, shining white, sparsely
pubescent above, somewhat decumbent, about 3 feet high; the leaves from
1 to 4 inches long, narrow and waved, but usually entire in our north-west-
ern plant. Roots white and fleshy, wide-spreading and throwing up flower-
ing stems at intervals, thus forming large patches. Flowers axillary, large
and handsome, 1£ inches across, waxy-white turning pinkish as they fade,
open in day time," odour unpleasant. Tips of the calyx-segments at the
end of the buds free as 4 little points. Capsules narrow and curved, four-
angled, about one inch long with the seeds in single rows in the 4 cells.
Seeds [Plate 53, fig. 16 — natural size and enlarged 8 times] about -^
of an inch long, normally spindle-shaped but angular and somewhat
twisted by compression in the pod, smooth and mucilaginous when soaked,
yellowish brown (under the microscope, minutely dotted with black and
faintly striate lengthwise).

This plant has usually been referred to in Canadian works as (Enothera
albicaulis, but all the plants I have been able to examine are either the above
named variety, or possibly (E. Niittallii (Spach) Itydb. True (Enothera
(Anogra) albicaulis has the calyx segments closely joined together at the tips
of the buds and the seeds are quite different, being bright yellow, lemon-
shaped and pitted all over the surface.

Time of Flowering : July-August ; seeds ripe September.

Propagation : By seeds and extensive deep-running fleshy rootstocks,
every part of which when broken will throw out shoots and form new plants.

Occurrence : Sandy land ; Manitoba and westward to British Columbia.
Injury: This deep-rooted perennial is very persistent in sandy land.

Remedy : Summer-fallow with deep or shallow ploughing, according
to the nature of the soil, after the growth has been made in summer. Culti-
vate in fall or in spring before seeding to a crop.

44

Plate 19

WHITE EVENING-PRIMROSE

( Anogra pa Hid a .ii.imii.i #/•///»/. >

live*..

OF

i^Llf

THE PARSLEY FAMILY, UMBELLIFER&.

This large family contains many herbaceous plants of weedy appear-
ance, seldom of much floral beauty, but important as food plants, boih for
their large succulent roots, as in the Carrot and Parsnip, or for their fleshy
leaf stalks, as Celery. The seeds of many are aromatic and wholesome, as
Caraway and Coriander. There are also many plants like the Cowbane and
Hemlock, which contain virulent poisons. The leaves are mostly pinnatifid,
repeatedly sub-divided, and the flowers are borne in compound umbels, a
form of inflorescence in which all the secondary foot-stalks of the flowers
start from the top of the peduncle or general foot-stalk, like the supports of
the ribs of an umbrella. The ovary is 2-celled and the tube of the 5-lobed
calyx covers it and is completely adherent to it. The corolla has 5 petals,
often unequal in size. When ripe, the 2 cells of the fruit separate into
2 seed-like halves, having 5 main ribs running lengthwise, which in the differ-
ent plants are modified into wings or into rows of bristles or prickles of great
value in separating the species. Inside the corky coat of the seeds are
several longitudinal cavities filled with resinous or oily matters, which give
the characteristic odours or flavours to the fruit. The true seed is inside
the fruit and is tasteless. There are very few Canadian farm weeds be-
longing to the Parsley family; undoubtedly the most important members
are the poisonous Cowbanes. The Caraway, Carum Carui, L., has run wild
in some parts of Eastern Canada and is often complained of; but it is a
biennial, and, if the plants are mowed closely or fed off for two years, it
disappears. The Carrot and the Parsnip in the same way have escaped from
cultivation in some places, but are easily disposed of in land that can be
ploughed. Meadow land infested with Wild Carrot should be broken up and
re-seeded.

45

PLATE 2O.
SPOTTED COWBANE, Cicuta maculata, L.

Other English names : Cowbane, Water Parsnip, Water Hemlock, Poi-
son Parsnip, Musquash Root, Beaver Poison.

Other Latin name: Cicuta virosa, L., Tar. maculata, Coult & Rose.

Native. Perennial. Stems stout, erect, hollow and jointed, widely
branching, three to six feet high, quite smooth, pale green, dotted and
streaked with purple. Leaves compound, twice or three times divided, clasp-
ing by an expanded base, the lower on long petioles, the upper sessile. The
leaflets lanceolate, deeply toothed. Flowers small, white, in compound um-
bels, one to four inches across; the rays of the many-flowered umbellets un-
equal, from one to two inches long. Fruit [Plate 55, fig. 52 — natural size
and enlarged 4 times] smooth, ovate, compressed laterally, Tx¥ of an inch
long, separating into two boat-shaped ribbed seeds. When cut across, these
seeds show four oil tubes between the ribs and two on the flat side. Root,
a bundle of a few fleshy spindle-shaped tubers, like small parsnips, at the
base of the stem.

Time of Flowering : July to August ; seeds ripe August to September.

Propagation : Copiously by seeds and by offsets from the crown of the
root at the base of the old stem.

Occurrence : In low land along waterways, probably right across the
Dominion.

Injury : Roots intensely poisonous to stock, particularly cattle, which
pull them out when grazing in spring and eat them freely. When first turned
out, the animals find few green plants to eat, and in browsing over the wet
lands where these Water Parsnips grow they find the new green shoots, and
when eating these pull out the roots. This is easily done owing to there
being few root fibres. The roots not only look like small parsnip roots, but
like them have a strong aromatic odour, which seems to make them very
attractive to stock. It is claimed that the flowering plants when cut in hay
may be eaten by animals without any ill effects, but that the ripe plants bear-
ing seeds are dangerous. The whole plant, however, contains some of the
poisonous principle, although it is true that this is most abundant in the roots
and the seeds. Consequently no hay containing the Spotted Cowbane, or
other Water Parsnips (also called Water Hemlocks), should be fed.

This plant, and in the West probably two or three other allied species
closely resembling it (the Oregon Water Hemlock, Cicuta vagans, Greene,
the Purple-Stemmed Water Hemlock, Cicuta Douglasii, C. & R., and the
Wyoming Water Hemlock, Cicuta occidentalis. Greene), are the cause of.
nearly all the deaths of cattle reported in spring ; aiid, unfortunately, in cases
where much of the plant has been eaten no remedies can be applied. The
means generally adopted on the plains in mild cases, when these are discovered
in time, is to administer two or three daily doses of lard or bacon grease ;
but it is seldom that anything can be done on account of the intense virul-
ence and quick action of the poison. A piece of root of the Oregon Water
Hemlock, about the size of a walnut, is stated by Prof. HedricK to be enough
to kill a cow in about fifteen minutes.

Remedy : From the nature of the localities where Water Parsnips grow,
hand-pulling is the best treatment for this dangerous weed. This is easily

46

Plate 20

SPOTTED COWBANE OR WATER PARSNIP

(Cicufa maculafa./.

done, particularly if the roots are first loosened with a spud or some other
implement. The plants should be carefully piled up to dry and then burnt
or otherwise destroyed. The poisonous principle called cicutoxin is of a
resinous or oily nature and will contaminate water, if, as is sometimes done,
the pulled up plants are thrown into sloughs where they may be trampled
upon by stock. It is most advisable that stockmen should know the appear-
ance of these plants so as to destroy them whenever seen or, at any rate, so
as to keep their animals away from localities where they grow too abundantly
to be pulled out by hand.

THE SUNFLOWER FAMILY, COMPOSITE.

This, the largest family of flowering plants, includes many thousands of
species and is represented in all parts of the world. The characters of the
family are well marked. The flowers of all are composite, that is composed
of many florets or small flowers standing together on an expanded enlarge-
ment at the ends of the stalks and known as the receptacle. Individually,
these flower-heads or collections of many florets have the appearance of simple
flowers and are popularly so spoken of, as for instance, the flower of the Sun-
flower, a Daisy, or a Dandelion, while in reality each one is a large number
of flowers joined together at the end of a common footstalk, and what appears
to be a calyx is a cluster of bracts or small leaves. A striking character of
this family is that the anthers are united at their edges into a vertical tube
with the style inside it. The calyx of the florets, when present, is united with
the one-celled ovary, and in fruit is modified into a ring of silky bristles,
awns, teeth or scales, which is called the pappus. The true seed is enclosed
in a hard dry shell, like a small nut, botanically called an achene. The flor-
ets of composite flowers are of two kinds, both of which may sometimes be
seen in the same flower-head, as in the Common Sunflower. The marginal
or ray-flowers are strap-shaped and the smaller disk-flowers are tubular.
When the flower-head has ray-flowers, either throughout or round the edge, it
is termed radiate; when there are no ray-flowers it is said to be discoid.

Our Canadian members of this large family are divided by Dr. Asa
Gray in his Manual, which is still used as the text book in most of our
schools, into two series according to the nature of the corolla. In the first
series, the Tube-flowered Composites, the corolla is tubular in all the per-
fect flowers, and regularly 5-lobed, strap-shaped only in the marginal or
ray-flowers which, when present (as is not always the case), have either only
pistils or have neither pistils nor stamens. In the second series or Strap-
flowered Composites, the corollas on all the florets of the head are strap-
shaped and perfect, that is, contain both pistils and stamens. To this series,
known as the Chicory family (Cichoriacece), the Chicory belongs and many
other plants with similar flowers, including many well known weeds, such
as the Dandelions, Hawkweeds, Sowthistles and Lettuces. By far the larger
number of our weeds belong to the first series, the Tube-flowered Composites ;
and in such large numbers of plants as are grouped under that one series, it
becomes necessary to subdivide them into tribes.

In the ASTER TRIBE there are a few weeds of the Gumweeds and Flea-
banes which are worthy of mention ; but it is seldom that any of our Cana-
dian species of the true Asters become aggressive weeds. The GUMWEED
Grindelia squarrosa, Dunal, is a bright golden -yellow flowered plant of the
western plains. This seldom becomes troublesome in crops, although the
seeds [Plate 55, fig. 53 — natural size and enlarged 4 times] have been found
among wheat screenings and have occasionally been sent in under the im-
pression that they were the seeds of Canada Thistle. They are, however,
larger, and are much flattened and more angular, grooved lengthwise, and
dullor in colour. The Gumweed is accredited with causing hay-fever in the

47

West. The flower buds just before opening have a large drop of liquid resin
on them, and, as the plants frequently grow along trails, they are trouble-
some from soiling ladies' dresses.

Of the FLEABANES, the Horseweed, Erigeron canadensis, L., is the most
abundant and widespread, its tall spire-like stems being seen on stubble left
for summer fallowing, on neglected land and in waste places in all parts of
the Dominion. The Daisy Fleabane, Erigeron annuus, Pers., with coarsely-
toothed leaves and the Rough Daisy Fleabane, Erigeron strigosus, Muhl.,
which has entire leaves, are common clover-field weeds in all parts of Eastern
Canada. The small seeds are carried in grass seeds.

Among the EVERLASTING FLOWERS some species of Antennaria and Gna-
phalium injure pastures by crowding out the grasses. By breaking up the
sod these can be destroyed.

A small natural group consisting in Canada of the Ragweeds, Marsh-
elders and Cockleburs, has been separated recently from the Aster family and
called the RAGWEED FAMILY (Ambrosiacece) ; but in this publication it is
thought better to keep it in its old place near the Sunflowers.

Some kinds of WILD SUNFLOWERS are noticeable weeds in the Prairie
Provinces. In Manitoba the Many-flowered Prairie Sunflower, Helianthus
Maximiliani, Schrader, and the Black-headed Sunflower, H. rigicius, Desf.,
are the most abundant; but the Wild Artichoke, Helianthus doronicoides ,
Lam., is the most difficult to eradicate. For all of these, early summer fal-
lowing is the best method. The seeds are often found among western grain.
In the Many-flowered Prairie Sunflower, they are [Plate 55, fig. 60 — natural
size and enlarged 4 times] about £ of an inch long, variable in shape,
but mostly narrowly oblong egg-shaped in outline, flattened and rather an-
gular, grooved lengthwise, brown, cross-mottled with irregular zigzag white
lines ; the apical and basal scars are both conspicuous, the latter rather
oblique and indented in the middle.

On the western plains are many species of WORMWOOD, Artemisia, which
are spoken of collectively as Sage brushes. Two of these, the Pasture Sage,
Artemisia Ludoviciana, Nutt., and the so called Sweet Sage or Lesser Pasture
Sage, Artemisia frigida, Willd., are sometimes troublesome by infesting home
pastures, where the grass has been eaten close, necessitating the breaking up
of the sod. The best known of the Wormwoods is the FALSE-TANSY, Artemisia
biennis, Willd., a biennial which occurs in all parts of Canada and although
very easily eradicated is a very unsightly weed when growing, as is often
the case, among grain crops on stubble. The remarkably small seeds, iV
of an inch, are dark brown, egg-shaped, wrinkled lengthwise and with a
conspicuous pale-coloured ring-like basal scar. [Plate 53, fig. 18 — twice
natural size and enlarged 8 times.]

Closely allied with the Thistles is a weed which is rather abundant in
meadows in the Maritime Provinces. This is the KNAPWEED, Centaurea
nigra, L., a rather coarse perennial with thistle-like flowers, over one inch
across and 1| inches high. The involucre or calyx-like whorl of bracts sur-
rounding the flower-heads is spherical and composed of black-fringed scales.
The seeds are about J of an inch long by about half as wide, taper-
ing to the base, cut off squarely above. On one side of the base, but above
the end, is the large conspicuous basal scar; the large apical scar covers the
whole of the top of the seed, and is surrounded by the pappus of two or
three rows of short, flat bristles. The seeds (achenes) [Plate 56, fisr. 63 —
natural size and enlarged 4 times] are slightly angular, somewhat flattened
and striped lengthwise on their shining gray surface with pale ridges ; the
whole seed is sparsely hairy. The Knapweed is palatable to all stock and
in no way injurious, but is unsightly and takes the place of the more valu-
able true grasses.

48

Plate 21

NARROW-LEAVED GOLDENROD

(Solida'go lanceola^ci

PLATE 21.

NARROW-LEAVED GOLDENROD, Solidago lanceolate, L.

Other English names : Bushy or Fragrant Goldenrod, Yellow-weed.

Other Latin names: Euthamia graminijolia (L.) Nutt. ; Chrysocoma
gramini folia, L.

Native. Perennial. Stems erect, cymosely branched above, 2 to 3 feet
high, almost smooth. Leaves numerous, linear-lanceolate, 1 to 5 inches long,
the edges rough-pubescent. Separate heads of flowers about one-quarter of
an inch across, bright golden yellow in dense, flat-topped clusters. Seeds
(achenes) ovate-oblong, small, TV of an inch, downy. Pappus white.

Time of Flowering • July to September; seeds ripe in 'September.

Propagation : By seeds blown by the wind, and by long running root-
stocks forming new plants at the tips, and, if left undisturbed, soon forming
large patches.

Occurrence : In low land, throughout the Dominion.

Injury : Much complained of as a weed in damp hay meadows in the
Eastern Provinces. The seeds, which are produced in large numbers, bear
a silky pappus, by means of which they are blown long distances by the wind.

Remedy : This and all the other Goldenrods root near the surface of the
ground and are easily destroyed by ordinary cultivation or shallow ploughing.

Several different Goldenrods are mentioned from time to time by farmers
as rather troublesome, free-growing perennial weeds. The species most com-
plained of is the Narrow-leaved Goldenrod ; but frequent mention is also made
of the Canada Goldenrod, Solidago canadensis, L., of which there are several
varieties — the Smooth Goldenrod, Solidago serotina, Ait., and the Tall Hairy
Goldenrod, Solidago rtioosa, Nutt. These gay, showy autumn-flowering
plants are all easily controlled by ordinary methods of good farming, and are
more wayside and fence-corner weedy plants than agricultural pests of well
worked land.

(4) 49

PLATE 22.

POVERTY WEED, loa axilla™, Pursh.

Other English name : Small-flowered Marsh-elder.

Native. Perennial. Stems herbaceous, branching, ascending, from
tough, woody extensive underground stems or rootstocks, 6 to 12 inches high,
very leafy. Whole plant with a rank odour. Leaves thick, obovate to linear-
oblong, entire, rough-hairy. The lower ones opposite, the upper alternate.
Flower-heads drooping, solitary, on very short pedicels, from the axils of the
upper leaves, ^ of an inch across, inconspicuous. Seeds (achenes) pear-
shaped, slightly flattened, sometimes keeled on the side and a little curved
towards the base; colour variable, olive green, yellowish-brown to almost
black ; surface mealy and dull, 4 of an inch long. Achenes [Plate 55, fig. 54
— natural size and enlarged 4 times] very few, seldom more than one or two
in each flower head, and very many heads have none.

Time of Flowering : June to August ; seeds ripe July to September.

Pro\ jgation : Mainly by the extensive system of underground stems,
which sead up a great many flowering, leafy shoots.

Occurrence : In grain fields and pastures from Manitoba to the interior
of British Columbia, thriving in all soils, but occurring generally on land
where there is some alkali.

Injury : A most persistent perennial, forming large patches. Very ex-
haustive of moisture, thus starving crops and rendering the land hard to work.

Remedy : This has proved a most difficult enemy to dislodge when well
established on the rich farms of the West. It requires, as Mr.-T. N. Willing
says in his Bulletin, "Hints to Grain Growers," Regina, 1905, well directed,
persistent effort with sharp implements. The ploughing for summer fallow
should be clean and deep, followed by frequent cultivation afterwards with
a broad-shared cultivator. The seed of the low growing Poverty Weed sel-
dom occurs in grain or grass seeds in our country, although Prof. Hillman
found it in 11 per cent, of samples of alfalfa seed in Nevada.

The FALSE RAGWEED, Iva xanthii folia, Nutt., a coarse annual with a
remarkable superficial resemblance before flowering to the Great Ragweed, is
a very common plant by roadsides, along railways and in corrals in Manitoba,
where it grows to a height of 6 to 8 feet and produces an enormous quantity
of seeds; these seeds [Plate 55, fig. 55 — natural size and enlarged 4 times] are
occasionally found among those of grain, grass and alfalfa from the West.
They are of the same general shape as those of Poverty Weed, but are only
jV of an inch long, more tapering and less robust, somewhat darker
in colour, the surface finely striated lengthwise ; when fresh, with a gray
mealy covering which partially rubs off and gives them a mottled appearance.
The young plant has the same habit of growth and leaf outline as the Great
Ragweed, but can be recognized at once by taking hold of the stem, which
in False Ragweed is perfectly smooth, while in the true Ragweed it and the
leaves are noticeably rough; when full grown, the resemblance between the
two plants disappears. The False Ragweed bears at the top of the stem a
large, loose panicle of dark-coloured flowers, while the Great Ragweed has
many of the leaves distinctly three-lobed and the tip of each branch ends
with a long rat tail-like spike of male flowers.

50

Plate 22

POVERTY WEED

( Iva axillaris. /w*/<.)

V OF THE

UNIVERSITY

Plate 23

GREAT RAGWE-ED

I Ambrosia Irifida,/,. >

PLATE 23.
GREAT RAGWEED, Ambrosia trifida, L.

Uther English names : Tail Ragweed, Crownweed, Kingweed, Bitter-
weed.

(Noxious: Dom., Ont., Man., N.W.).

Native. Annual. A tall, coarse branching plant, 4 to 8 feet high, with
very rough stems and leaves; pale green and bearing the sterile and fertile
flowers in different heads on the same plant, the sterile in long, slender spikes
at the ends of the branches, and the fertile two or three together, sessile in
the axils of the leaves at the base of the spikes. Sterile flowers cup-shaped,
nodding, £ inch across ; anthers yellow and conspicuous ; fertile flowers in-
conspicuous; pistils slender and purplish. Leaves opposite on long margined
petioles, very variable in shape, on young plants deeply indented but scarcely
lobed; as the stems grow, 3 or even 5-lobed leaves are produced, and on many
plants may be found leaves without lobes. Seeds (achenes) [Plate 55, fig. 57
— natural size and enlarged 4 times] brown, urn-shaped, about J inch long,
tipped with a tapering beak and bearing around the base of this about one-
third from the top, like the points of a crown, 6 or 8 blunt spines which are
the ends of more or less distinct ribs ; this crown-like appearance of the top
of the seed has suggested the names Kingweed and Crownweed, sometimes
used by millers.

Time of Flowering: July; seed ripe August.
Propagation : By seed, in grain and carried by water.

Occurrence : Ontario and occasional in other eastern provinces. Abun-
dant in the rich Red River valley lands in Manitoba. Not extending west
as a weed, but sometimes seen along the railways.

Injury: This coarse annual, when in crops, crowds and starves grain
growing near it, but the chief loss to farmers is due to the difficulty experi-
enced by millers in separating the seeds from grain, owing to its similarity
in size and weight to wheat ; the spines also are said to catch in the meshes of
the screens and to give much trouble in the cleaning process.

Remedy : This is one of the few weeds in Manitoba for which hand pull-
ing is a practical remedy. As a rule, the plants are conspicuous and grow
near the edges of fields. A little labour in pulling before the seeds are ripe,
being well repaid by the clean crop reaped, special attention should be given
to fields liable to be flooded. Good work may frequently be done for this as
for several other weeds by running a mowing machine around the edges of
fields before the seeds are ripe.

51

PLATE 24.

COMMON RAGWEED, Ambrosia artemisixfolia, L.

Other English names : Eoman Wormwood, Smaller Ragweed, Hogweed.

(Noxious: Dom.).

Native. Annual. A coarse weedy branching plant, with hairy stems,
2 to 4 feet high. Leaves thin and much cut up, twice divided. Flowers and
fruit [Plate 55, fig. 58 — natural size and enlarged 4 times] much resembling
those of the Great Ragweed but smaller. Occasionally plants may be found
which bear only fertile flowers.

Time of Flowering : July ; seed ripe August.

Propagation : By seeds, carried in the seeds of grain, clover and grasses.

Occurrence : In rich land and waste places throughout Eastern Canada
and gradually extending into the Prairie Provinces.

Injury : The seeds are an impurity in clover, small grains and grass seed.
The large spreading roots rob crops of moisture and plant food, and the free
branching growth chokes out weaker plants.

Remedy : As the Ragweeds develop late in the season, roots and other
crops should be hand-hoed after the usual horse cultivation. Land badly in-
fested can be cleaned by a regular system of short rotations, care being taken
to cultivate immediately after harvest, and to mow down the fall growth on
new meadows.

THE PERENNIAL RAGWEED, Ambrosia psilostachya, DC., is a western plant
found on the prairies, resembling the Common Ragweed in the shape of the
leaves and flowers, but with running perennial rootstocks which throw up
at intervals weak stems 1 to 2 feet high, covered with hoary-pubescent leaves.
This Ragweed is seldom troublesome in Canada either as a weed on farm
land or from the seeds occurring among crop seeds. With the more exten-
sive cultivation of grasses and alfalfa for seed in th" West it may be ex-
pected that this plant may require more attention. The seed [Plate 55, fig.
59 — natural size and enlarged 4 times] resembles that of the above very
closely, but is, as a rule, more regularly oval and without the spines, al-
though seeds bearing spines are not uncommon.

52

Plate

COMMON RAGWEED

(Ambrosia arfemisiaefolia, /..)

UNIVERSITY

OF

Plate 25

STINKING MAYWEED

(Anhhemis Cofula./. )

PLATE 25.

STINKING MAYWEED, Anthcma Cotula, L.

Other English names : Mayweed, Dog's Chamomile, Dog-fennel.
Other Latin name : Maruta Cotula, DC.

Introduced. Annual and winter annual. Stems 12 to 18 inches, much
branched from the root up, forming a flat topped bunch of white, yellow-
eyed, daisy-like flowers, 1 inch across, on slender naked, stems. Leaves twice
divided, with the secondary leaflets cut into linear segments. Whole plant
dull green, slightly hairy and with a strong unpleasant odour. Seeds [Plate
53, fig. 19 — natural size and enlarged 8 times] dirty yellow, small, TV of an
inch long, ovate-oblong or oblong, truncate at the upper end with a small
knob in the center, abruptly pointed below, 10-ribbed with rows of coarse
tubercles, sometimes however, according to Prof. Hillman, nearly smooth.

Time of Flowering: Summer to autumn; seed ripe by July, and young
plants sometimes abundant in September.

Propagation : By seeds.

Occurrence : A common weed in old settlements, around buildings, along
roads and in waste places, from the Atlantic coast to Manitoba, where it is
as yet rare and only found along railways, but is rapidly appearing in new
districts.

Injury: Frequent on cultivated land. The seed a common impurity in
clover and grass seeds.

Remedy : Clean farming and the use of clean seed. Plants seen in
clover fields should be pulled by hand.

In the Maritime Provinces the SCENTLESS MAYWEED, Matricaria inodora,
L., is found commonly growing with the above. The two plants resemble
each other closely, except that the Scentless Mayweed is a much handsomer
plant with flowers nearly 2 inches across and foliage of a dark rich green.
It lacks, however, the unpleasant odour and the seeds are entirely different.
Although varying much in size and shape among themselves, these are
similar in their structural markings. Prof. Hillman describes them, in his
most valuable Bulletin, "Nevada Weeds," Part III, 1897, as "varying in
length from one-sixteenth to one-twelfth of an inch ; the smaller narrower
ones are straight and rather prismatic in form, with truncate ends ; large
seeds are relatively broader and commonly curved in the direction of one
face; they are sufficiently flattened to present two faces; three well defined
broad ribs extend lengthwise along the usually concave face, broadly con-
nected at the apex and meeting at the base; the opposite convex face ex-
hibits the marginal ribs and a short partial central rib leading from the
apex and connected with the marginal ridges below two deep depressions,
which are separated by this rib. The surface between the ribs is black and
transversely wrinkled." The apex of the seed is excavated and bears the

53

scar of the flower at its center. The two depressions on the concave side give
the seed a curious mask-like appearance. These depressions on the white
unripe seed are seen as two green swollen translucent glands.

TAHEOW or MILFOIL, Achillea Millefolium, L., is a well known plant by
waysides and in meadows everywhere from Atlantic to Pacific. In the West
is a native form which occurs high up on mountains as well as on the prairies.
The erect stems 6 to 18 inches high, bear flat-topped clusters of white flower-
heads and finely divided fern-like leaves. The seeds [Plate 56, fig. 61 —
natural size and enlarged 4 times] are very small, flat and thin, gray with a
white margin, about -^ of an inch long and oblong-wedge-shaped;
the basal scar is circular and distinct; the apical scar is a small cushion-
like prominence from the middle of the broadly notched apex. These seeds
are very often found among small grass seeds.

54

THE

DIVERSITY

OF

Plate 26

OX-EYE DAISY

(Chrysanrhemum Leucanl-hernum./..)

PLATE 26.

OX-EYE DAISY, Chrysanthemum Leucanlhemum, L.

Other English names : White Daisy, White Weed.
Other Latin name : Leucanthemum vulgare, Lam.

(Noxious: Dom., Ont.).

Introduced. Perennial, shallow-rooted. Stems numerous, simple or little
branched, 1 to 3 feet high. Basal leaves spatulate or oblong, crenate or
coarsely toothed, narrowed into slender petioles; stem leaves sessile, partly
clasping, deeply divided at the base and coarsely toothed above. Flower-
heads solitary on long, naked peduncles, very handsome, 1| to 2 inches across ;
rays 20 to 30 pure white, spreading, 2 to 3-toothed at the apex; disk tiowers
yellow. Seeds club-shaped or elongate-ovate, T\ of an inch in length,
usually curved, almost straight on one side, and convex on the other, the
knob-like scar at the top prominent ; there are 10 well defined white ridges
which run the whole length of the seed, meeting at both ends ; between these
ridges the surface of the seed is black minutely dotted with white ; no pappus.

Time of Flowering : June ; seeds ripe July.

Propagation : By short offsets from the woody rootstock ; also more abun-
dantly by seeds.

Occurrence : Enormously abundant in old pastures, in meadows and by
roadsides from the Atlantic coast to the borders of Manitoba, and occasional
along the railway to the Pacific coast.

Injury : A rank and aggressive weed in hay meadows, where it soon
chokes out the grass. Seeds a common impurity in grass and clover seeds.

Remedy : Being a shallow-rooted perennial, the ploughing down of in-
fested sod will kill all of the growing plants. A short rotation including
seeding down to clover at short intervals, is probably the best method of
cleaning land of this pernicious weed. The Ox-eye Daisy flowers at the time
clover is ready to cut for hay, and, if this is done in good season, its seeds
cannot ripen; when the sod is ploughed down, the old plants are destroyed.

A plant which is sometimes miscalled the " Ox-eye Daisy " is the beauti-
ful BLACK-F.YEU CONE-FLO AVER, RudbecTda, hirta, L., widely known as Yellow
Daisy and Black-eyed Susan. This showy biennial weed is one of the excep-
tions to the usual direction of travel with introduced plants. Most of these
have gone with civilization towards the West, but this denizen of the western
plains has been brought eastward, probably with the seeds of grasses and
clovers, and is now not uncommon in all provinces of Canada. It is a rather
coarse rough-hairy biennial with long lanceolate undivided hairy leaves
and with flower-heads of the same size as those of the Ox-eye Daisy, with
glaring golden orange rays and a dark purple cone-shaped disk. The seeds
[Plate 55, fi?. 56 — natural size and enlarged 4 times] are black, 4-anfrled,
narrow, with parallel sides about $ inch long and without pappus. Mea-
dows can be cleared of this weed by mowing, if this is done before the seeds
are ripe.

55

PLATE 27.

LESSER BURDOCK, Ardium Lappa, L, var. minus, Gray.

Other English names : Bardane, Common Burdock, Clotbur.
Other Latin names : Lappa minor, DC. ; Arctium minus, Schk.

(Noxious : Ont.)

Introduced. Biennial, from a deep thick tap root. Root leaves large,
heart-shaped, downy beneath, somewhat resembling those of Rhubarb, peti-
oles hollow. Flowering stem much branched, from 3 to 6 feet high, flowers
purple, flower heads numerous, in clusters at the tips of the branches and in
the axils of the upper leaves, | inch across, oval-globular ; the scales of the
involucre ending with hooks by which the seed-bearing heads become burs
and are distributed bv becoming attached to passing animals, etc. Seeds
[Plate 56, fig. 62 — natural size and enlarged 4 times] oblong-ovoid, trun-
cate at each end, flattened, with about 5 elevated longitudinal lines, gen-
erally somewhat curved, pale brown with dark transverse zig-zag depressed
marks, apical scar circular with a central point, pappus, when present, con-
sisting of several rows of short bristles barbed upwards.

7'ime of Flowering : July to August ; seed ripe September.
Propagation : By seed.

Occurrence : Rich land in the older settled provinces ; common in waste
places, by roadsides and in orchards in sod.

There are two forms of the Burdock found wild in Canada as weeds ;
by far the commoner is the one figured in our plate, which has much more
numerous and smaller flower heads, with the scales of the involucre shorter;
the seeds are darker, sometimes showing hardly any pale brown marks ; the
petioles arc hollow, which is not the case in the other and less common form,
Arctium Lappa, L., (Lappa major, Gaertn., and L. officinaUs, All., var.
major, Gray). This latter has much larger green flower heads, 1J inches
across, with the hooked scales more spreading and has longer peduncles.

Remedy : Cut below the crown or spud out when the ground is wet and
soft, either the first year, or before the seeds are ripe in the second.

56

Plate 27

LESSER BURDOCK

(Archum Lappa. /../'*/•. minus, «/»/

_-x/ \

j UNIVERSITY j

OF

Plate 28

COMMON RAGWORT OR STINKING WILLIE-

(Senecio Jacobaea./, )

PLATE 28.

COMMON RAGWORT. Senecio Jacobaa, L.

Other English names : Stinking Willie, Baughlan, Tansy Ragwort,
Staggerwort, St. James's-wort.

Introduced. Perennial, shallow-rooted and short-lived. Rootstocks few,
short and thick from the base of the stem ; under cultivation many plants
after flowering the second year die without making any offsets. Stem stiff,
erect, grooved, 2 to 3 feet ; much branched above, forming a flat-topped dense
compound corymb. Root leaves 6 to 8 inches long, petioled. Stem leaves
sessile, embracing the stem; all leaves dark green, deeply twice-pinnatifid,
the segments crowded and overlapping, crisped and waved. Flower heads
numerous, erect and flat, golden yellow and very showy, f inch across. Seeds
[Plate 53, fig. 20 — natural size and enlarged 8 times] creamy white, oblong,
excavated at the top, with a small central po^nt, deeply grooved along the
sides ; those of the disk with short bristles and almost straight, those of the
ray-flowers smooth and much curved; pappus white. As is frequently the
case in plants with composite flowers, this has seeds (achenes) of two different
forms, according to their position in the flower head ; those from the outside
being more curved than those in the centre, which are straighter, narrower
and more or less angled. Whole plant almost glabrous or with tufts of woolly
hairs at the base of the leaves and flower heads, and with straggling hairs
over the whole surface.

Time of Flowering : July till November; seeds ripe August.
Propagation : By seeds and by a few offsets from the base of the stem.

Occurrence : Locally abundant in Pictou and Antigonish Counties in
Nova Scotia and in parts of Prince Edward Island, also reported from the
Province of Quebec.

The history of this plant in Canada has been worked up by Dr. W. H.
Pethick in Nova Scotia, and by Rev. Father Burke and Mr. L. W. Watson
in Prince Edward Island ; and good work has been done by all of these
investigators in pointing out the danger of neglecting this weed. It would
appear as if the Ragwort had been imported into the two Provinces indepen-
dently, to Nova Scotia from Scotland, and to Prince Edward Island from
Ireland, where it is known under the same name, Baughlan, as is used in its>
new home.

Injury: The chief injury by this weed is that, when eaten by cattle, it
causes a curious and fatal disease of the liver (hepatic cirrhosis). For many
years it had been suspected that the Ragwort was the direct cause of this
malady ; but recently this has been conclusively proved by a series of careful
experiments carried out by Dr. W. H. Pethick, of Antigonish, under the
direction of the Dominion Veterinary Director General, Dr. J. G. Ruther-
ford, and the disease previously supposed to be contagious has now been
removed from the list of affections de'alt with under the Animal Contagious
Diseases Act.

Remedy : The eradication of this coarse conspicuous and dangerous plant
should certainly be possible on farm lands, now that land owners have proof

57

of its true nature. It does not increase extensively from the root, and there
is good evidence from the observations of Rev. Father Burke that where it
has been mowed systematically it has in a short time disappeared. In pas-
tures and hay meadows every plant should be grubbed out before the seeds
form. Systematic and combined effort should also now be made by the muni-
cipal authorities to have it destroyed along roadsides and in the streets of
towns and villages. In its green state, Ragwort is not readily eaten by
domestic animals; therefore, the first attention should be given to cleaning
meadows, because when mixed with hay it is eaten by all kinds of stock.
Putting the land in the infested districts under a short rotation of crops,
would at once do away with this short-lived and shallow-rooted perennial;
and, with an effort to keep it mowed down in waste places, conspicuous
benefit could not but follow at once. A short rotation of crops would also be
a much needed improvement in the farming methods now practised in those
parts of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island where the Ragwort is so
abundant and injurious. It has been found that sheep can eat this weed
with comparative impunity and that it dies out when closely fed off by these
animals. It has been pointed out by Dr. Rutherford that the country where
it occurs is admirably suited to the raising of sheep.

The COMMON GROUNDSEL, Senecio vulgaris, L., which has been introduced
from Europe and is now found in gardens rather rarely in the Central and
Prairie Provinces, but abundantly in the Maritime Provinces and on the
Pacific Coast, is a small branching plant 6 to 8 inches high, bearing many
tassel-like discoid or rayless flowers. The seeds are long and narrow, spindle-
shaped, the upper end blunt and slightly enlarged by the white apical scar ;
surface finely ridged lengthwise, and covered with short white bristles, in
this way differing from the seeds of the similar Stinking Groundsel, Senecio
viscosus, L., which occurs in the Maritime Provinces with the Common
Groundsel, and, although the whole plant is viscid pubescent, has its rather
longer seeds entirely without bristles; its flower-heads also bear distinct
marginal ray-florets.

The COMMON TANSY, Tanacetum vulgare, L., is quite a different plant
from the Common Ragwort, although there seems to be much confusion in
the Maritime Provinces as to the identity of the two plants. Tansy has
almost rayless flowers, quite smooth 5-ribbed seeds with five blunt teeth
at the top instead of a silky pappus. The plant, too, is pleasantly aromatic
instead of rankly fetid, a character which in Nova Scotia has gained for the
Common Ragwort the name of Stinking Willie.

CANADA THISTLE

(Cnicus arvens is, //„//»,

PLATE 29.
CANADA THISTLE, Cntau anemii, Hoffm.

Other English names: Creeping Thistle, Soft Field Thistle.

Other Latin names: Carduus arvensis (L.) Eobs. ; C'irsium arvense, Scop.

(Noxious: Dom., Ont., Man., N.W., B.C.)

Introduced. Perennial with very deep running rootstocks. Stems erect,
2 to 4 feet high, striate. Leaves very variable in shape, deeply pinnatifid,
waved and crested, very prickly, in some plants much less so than in others,
somewhat downy, particularly beneath the leaves. Flower heads very numer-
ous, in a large loose corymb at the top of the stems, dioecious, some plants
bearing male flowers only, which form no seeds, others female flowers only,
which produce many seeds; the flower heads of male plants are nearly globu-
lar, 1 inch across, those of the female plants oblong, with short florets and
only about half as large; large patches may be found bearing only male or
female flowers, showing that each originated from a single seed. Flowers
very variable in colour, ranging from pale purple through shades of pink to
white. The seeds are i inch long, elongated oblong, smooth, somewhat
flattened and curved, more or less bluntly angled and finely grooved ; the top
is squarely rounded and has a narrow rim with a small conical point in the
centre, colour light brown; pappus copious, white. [Plate 56, fig. 64 — natural
size and enlarged 4 times.]

Time of Flowering -. June to August ; seed ripe July.

Propagation : By seeds and by extensive underground rootstocks, which
send up both leafy barren shoots and flowering stems. This well-known pest,
which, althpugh called Canada Thistle in North America, is simply the
Field Thistle or Creeping Thistle of England, has now been introduced into
almost all of the British colonies, and has everywhere proved a troublesome
and persistent enemy of farmers. As an instance of the rapidity with which
this plant can spread, a single seed was planted on sandy but fertile land
in the spring ; by the first autumn there were two or three shoots showing at
a distance of about a foot from the central plant; by the second autumn a
patch 20 feet across with numerous stems had developed. The rootstocks
naturally run down into the soil to a depth of 8 to 15 inches; but when
patches are covered up stems can be thrown up through many feet of soil.

Occurrence: Abundant everywhere in Eastern Canada and Manitoba,
here and there through the North-west Provinces and in British Columbia.

Injury : A gross feeder and a vigorous grower, which not only crowds
crops but is a conspicuous evidence of negligent farming. Seeds frequent in
grass and clover seeds, also in seed oats.

Remedy : Being a deep-rooted perennial, the Canada Thistle should be
ploughed deeply in summer just as the flowers open, or the flowering stems
may be mowed down and the land ploughed as soon as a new growth has
appeared.. As new stems are thrown up, they must be cut down with a broad
toothed cultivator at intervals through the autumn. A deep ploughing late

59

in autumn has been found very useful in killing Thistles and Perennial Sow-
thistle in Manitoba. This would also be good practice in Eastern Canada,
and the land might afterwards be thoroughly worked down and ridged up
with a double mould-board plough for the winter.

The chief safeguard of farmers against Canada Thistle and all similar
deep-rooted perennials is undoubtedly a regular short rotation of crops such
as is described on page 11, as practised here at Ottawa by Mr. Grisdale. As
an evidence of the above, it may be noted that the Canada Thistle is seldom
seen in the crop on farms given to alternate husbandry, and it is everywhere
more of a wayside weed which spreads on to farms when these are not pro-
perly worked.

A curious variety of the Canada Thistle in which the leaves are flat,
almost entire and spinose only on the margins (Cnicus arvensis, Hoffm.,
var. setosus, Ledeb.), has been sent from Manitoba. This variety, however,
has not proved stable, for plants grown from seeds of the variety can hardly
be distinguished from the ordinary prickly form.

In addition to the Canada Thistle, two other species are sometimes com-
plained of by farmers. The PRAIRIE THISTLE or WESTERN BULL THISTLE,
Cnicus undulatus , Gray, is a native perennial with running rootstocks and
large whiter-woolly leaves and stems; flower heads large, nearly 2 inches
across, solitary at the end of the branches. This is not a very serious pest
and soon disappears when the land is put under crop.

The BULL THISTLE or SPEAR THISTLE, Cnicus lanceolatus, Huffm., is a
large coarse biennial, introduced from Europe, 2 to 4 feet high, widely
branching, with many large deep-purple flower heads 1J inches high by as
much across. This plant is very abundant in many parts of Canada, and

Sarticularly so in the partially cleared districts in British Columbia. As
md is cleared and worked regularly, this weed, each plant of which lives
only for two years, is killed out.

60

iMU

OF THE

UNIVERSITY

OF

Plate 30

CHICORY

(Cichorium Inhybus A.)

PLATE 30.

CHICORY, Cichorium Infybus, L.

Other English names : Wild Chicory, Wild Succory.

(Noxious : Dom.)

Introduced. Perennial from a long deep rootstock. Stems 2 to 3 feet
high, branched, hairy below. Root leaves, closely resembling those of the
Dandelion, 6 to 8 inches, spreading on the ground, runcinate pinnatifid or
dentate ; midribs hairy beneath ; upper leaves glandular ciliate on the mar-
gins, clasping, at base. Flower heads bright blue, nearly 2 inches across,
composed entirely of strap-shaped flowers, usually closing by noon, in sessile
clusters of three or four together along the almost leafless stems. Seeds
[Plate 54, fig. 21 — natural size and enlarged 8 times] £ inch long, dark
brown or straw-coloured, mottled with brown, wedge-shaped, obtusely 3 to
5-angled, some seeds being much curved ; the surface is grooved and ridged
from top to bottom and roughened crosswise with minute close raised and
waved lines ; at the top, surrounding the apical scar, is a fringe of short
flat white bristles.

Time of Flowering: July to frost; seeds ripe in August.
Propagation : By seeds or shoots from the roots.

Occurrence : Throughout Eastern Canada, most abundant in the Pro-
vince of Quebec.

Injury : A troublesome weed in rich low land and in pastures. Seeds
often found among crop seeds, particularly of clovers and grasses.

Remedy : A short rotation of crops, as for Canada Thistle. Chicory is
not often seen in good farming districts except as a wayside weed.

61

PLATE 31.

FALL DANDELION, Leontodon auiumnalis, L.

Other English names : August Flower, Autumnal Hawkbit.
Other Latin name: Apargia autumnalis, Hoffm.

Introduced. Perennial. Rootstock short and thick, frequently divided
into several heads, each of which bears a thick tuft of runcinately
toothed leaves somewhat resembling those of the Dandelion in outline, and
several few-flowered leafless stems. Flower heads over 1 inch across, bright
yellow. Seeds [Plate 56, fig. 65 — natural size and enlarged 4 times]
W of an inch long, linear, a little swollen below, not beaked, ribbed
leEgthwise, the ribs connected by raised waved lines giving the whole
.surface a netted appearance; pappus dirty white, in one row of plumose
bristles.

Time of Flowering: July till frost; seeds ripe August.
Propagation: By seeds and by division of the crown.

Occurrence : Abundant in the Maritime Provinces and parts of Quebec.
Recently reported from hay fields in several places in Ontario.

Injury : Spreads rapidly from seed and overruns meadows, pastures and
lawns, where it chokes out grass with its thick rosette of leaves in a very
similar way to the COMMON DANDELION, Taraxacum officinale, Weber, the
well-known pest of all long-settled districts. This latter, however, differs
from the Fall Dandelion in having long deep tapering roots, every part of
which, if broken off, will throw out leaves and form new plants, as well as
in having hollow single-headed flower stalks and long-beaked green seeds.
There is another Dandelion occurring with the preceding, the RED-SEEDED
DANDELION, Taraxacum, erythrospermum, Andrz., which differs from it
merely by having reddish-purple seeds and more deeply divided leaves.
The seeds of these Dandelions resemble in outline and size those of the
Prickly Lettuce [Plate 56, fig. 67], but are not flattened as they are.

Remedy : The breaking up of pastures and meadows destroys all the
plants of the shallow-rooted Fall Dandelion, which rot with the sod. In
lawns the best treatment for- all Dandelions is to dig out the plants and en-
courage the grass by sowing more seed, preferably of Kentucky Blue Grass
and by light top dressings of quick-acting fertilizers, such as nitrate of soda,
which may be used at the rate of 200 pounds to the acre, to be applied, not
all at once, but in three or four light applications.

62

Plate 31

FALL DANDELION OR AUGUST FLOWER

( Leonl-odon aut-u m n a I is. /. I

Plate32

'") \ " '

ORANGE HAWKWE-E'D OR PAINT BRUSH

I Hieracium auranhacum ,/, .)

PLATE 32.
ORANGE HAWKWEED, Hieracium aurantiacuw, L.

Other English names : Devil's Paint-brush, Paint-brush.

(Noxious: Dom.)

Introduced. Perennial. Low growing, throwing out many creeping
branches close to the ground. Filled with bitter milky sap. 1 lowering stems
1 to 2 feet, er.ect and simple, almost leafless, bearing at the top a corymb
of about a dozen handsome flower-heads nearly an inch across. The fiery
orange-red of the flowers is very striking. Leaves spatulate or lanceolate,
blunt-pointed, 3 to 8 inches long, tufted, many lying flat on the ground.
Whole plant very hairy, the flowering stems clothed with stellate down,
black gland-tip^od hairs and long whitp hairs from black tubercles. Seeds
[Plate 56, fig. 66 — natural size and enlarged 4 times] small, yV to j? of
an inch long, linear-oblong, cut off square at the top, pointed at the base,
strongly 10-ribbed lengthwise, the tops of the ribs forming a star-like rim
round the base of the dusky white pappus; colour of seeds purplish-black;
unripe seeds deep red.

Time of Flowering : June ; seeds ripe July.
Propagation : By seed and by creeping stems.

Occurrence : Abundant and very troublesome in the upland pastures
of the Eastern Townships of the Province of Quebec and in some places in
New Brunswick and Princ'e Edward Island. Reported occasionally from
Ontario and all the Eastern Provinces.

Injury : A vigorous grower which spreads rapidly by means of its run-
ners and matures a large quantity of small winged seeds, by means of which
it soon overruns land that cannot be ploughed, the abundant and useless
foliage taking the place of grass and ruining meadows and pastures.

Remedy: Although a vigorous' grower, all the roots are close to the
surface of the ground. In land used for crops, ploughing down and surface
cultivation will kill it. Infested meadows and pastures must be broken up
and put under a. short rotation of crops. For mountain pastures or uplands
where ploughing is difficult, the best treatment is that advised by Prof. L.
R. Jones, of Burlington, Vermont, namely, to broadcast dry salt over the
patches, so as to fall on the leaves of all the plants, at the rate of li tons to
the acre (18 pounds to the square rod). This amount will kill all the plants
of Hawkweed but will improve the grass.

BRANCHING HAWKWEED, Hieracium cladanthum, Arvet-Touve, MS.
In hay meadows and pastures in parts of the Province of Quebec and in
many places in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island,
there is a most pernicious and aggressive weed closely resembling the Orange
Hawkweed, but having more numerous and rather smaller pale yellow
flowers, narrower and longer leaves, and in strong plants tall flowering stems,
sometimes three feet high, bearing a large irregular cymose panicle of flower
heads. The lowest branches much elongated, given off even lower down than
the middle of the stem, but raising up their flower clusters almost as high

63

as those of the branches above them. On weak plants, such as grow in hay
fields, this branching habit is much less conspicuous, and the form resemble*
much more nearly that of the Orange Hawkweed. The appropriate name of
Hieracium cladanthum, or the Branching Hawkweed, has been proposed for
tins plant by the specialist in this genus, Mr. Arvet-Touve, of Gieres, France.
It is just possible that this yellow-flowered Hawkweed, which is now widely
known as the Yellow Devil, may merely be the yellow-flowered variety uf
the Orange Hawkweed, as the plants of the whole of this group are very
variable, but it presents striking differences which seem worth character-
izing.

Besides the above there is another species of the same group, the KING
DEVIL, Hieracium prcealtum, Vill. (Noxious : Dom.), which is found with the
above but much more rarely and which is far less aggressive with us in
Canada, although it is bitterly complained of to the south of our borders ;
this is a much less leafy plant and bears fewer runners. The smaller flower
heads are borne in the same way but the corymb is smaller and more spread-
ing; the whole plant is less hairy, particularly the stems, and is glaucous.
This grayish green colour makes the dark bases of the long hairs on the leaves
stand out more conspicuously than on the allied species.

The MOUSE-EAH HAWKWEED, Hieracium, Pilosella, L., has been intro-
duced into Prince Edward Island since many years and has taken almost en-
tire possession of some fields and extensive areas along the sides of the public
roads. It is even a worse pest than the different species mentioned above.
It is a mat-like prostrate plant, which produces long running leafy stems
on the surface of the ground ; these produce tufts of roots and side shoots
at very short intervals, the latter being densely clothed with clusters of
leaves, which are smooth above, except for some very conspicuous long white
bristles, and are covered beneath with a thick felt of star-shaped hairs. The
flower heads are solitary, on slender stalks, pale yellow, over an inch across
and sweetly scented. The seeds are a little longer than those of the Orange
Hawkweed, but the seeds of all the four Hawkweeds here mentioned are prac-
tically indistinguishable; all, however, are liable to occur in grass seeds of
which they are a dangerous impurity. The agricultural treatment for the
eradication of all is the same and consists mainly of a short rotation with
seeding down to clover and grass at short intervals.

According to Dr. N. L. Britton (Flora of the Northern States and Can-
ada, 1901), the Prince Edward Island Mouse-ear Hawkweed is the variety
Peleferianum, Mer., of Hieracium Pilosella. The typical form of the species
is found occasionally in the other provinces, having been introduced with
European grass seeds.

64

WNlVtRSITY

OF

1

Plate 33

N.C.

BLUE LETTUCE-
(Lachuca pulchella //</.)

PLATE 33.

BLUE LETTUCE, Laduca pulchella, DC.

Other English names : Showy Lettuce, Large-flowered Blue Lettuce.
Other Latin names : Mulgedium pulchellum, Nutt. ; Mulgedium acu-
minatum, DC.; Sonchus pulchellus, Pursh.

Native. Perennial, deep-rooted. Stems 2 to 3 feet, leafy below. Whole
plant smooth and glaucous, filled with milky juice. Leaves very variable,
linear-lanceolate or oblong ; entire, simply or runcinately dentate, or pin-
natifid ; stem leaves less divided and sessile. Flower heads nearly 1 inch
across, pale blue, rather few, on scaly peduncles in a narrow panicle. Seeds
[Plate 56, fig. 68 — natural size and enlarged 4 times] about y8^ of an
inch, one-quarter of which is a short thick beak; tip of beak expanded
into a short cup-shaped disk ; slaty gray when ripe, red when immature ;,
club-shaped, flattened, with thick rib-like margins and with narrower ridges
down each face ; in some seeds one or more of these ridges much thickened,
whole surface dull and rough ; pappus pure white and silky.

Time of Flowering: June, July; seed ripe by end of July.
Propagation : By seeds and by fleshy running rootstocks.

Occurrence : Prairie Provinces and British Columbia. In moist or
sandy soil, particularly where there is some alkali.

Injury : A deep-rooted and persistent perennial weed .
Remedy : Early summer-fallowing.

The PEICKLY LETTUCE, Lactuca Scariola, L. (Noxious : Man.) This
coarse-growing prickly-leaved annual has spread rapidly through Canada
during the past four or five years. Although, as a rule, it occurs most com-
monly in waste places, the seeds [Plate 56, fig. 67 — natural size and enlarged
4 times] are frequently found among crop seeds. These are dark gray, sim-
ilar to those of the black-seeded varieties of the garden lettuce, usually a
little smaller, and like them are broadly lance-shaped and somewhat curved,
flattened, margined and bearing 5 to 7 narrow ridges down each face ; whole
surface roughened, with very short white bristles on the ridges near the apex ;
beak as long as the seed, very slender and often twisted ; pappus white. In
the Eastern parts of Canada, where the Prickly Lettuce is now common in
many places, plants average 3 to 5 feet in height ; but in the Okanagan val-
ley of British Columbia plants were found some years ago which were 8 feet
high. The leaves are oblong-lanceolate, spiny margined and prickly on the
midrib beneath, more or less pinnately divided, sessile with ear-like lobes at
the base. The flower heads are pale yellow, less than £ inch across and only
a few open at a time on the large wide-spreading panicle.

The leaves of the stem are twisted at the clasping base so as to stand
vertically with the edge to the sun, instead of horizontally, as in the case
of the leaves of most plants. This peculiarity has given rise to a common
name of this lettuce, the Compass Weed.

It is claimed by some botanists that the Prickly Lettuce, which is found
in waste places in Canada, is the European Lactuca virosa, L. ; but the two
are difficult to separate with certainty. For the meantime it seems prefer-
able to use the best-known name L. Scariola.

(5) 65

PLATE 34.

PERENNIAL SOWTHISTLE, Sonchus anensis, L.

Other English names : Field Sowthistle, Creeping Sowthistle, Corn
Sowthistle (in England), also sometimes incorrectly called the llussiaii
Thistle, which however is an entirely different plant belonging to the
Spinach family.

(Noxious: Dom., Man., N.W.)

Introduced. Perennial, very deep-rooted with large and vigorous run-
ning rootstocks. Stems 1 to 4 feet high, hollow, simple, with few leaves,
and branching at the top. Whole plant filled with a bitter milky juice.
Leaves 6 to 12 inches long, pointed, deeply cut, clasping the stem at their
base and edged with soft spines. Flowers bright yellow, 1J inches across,
in corymbs, closing in strong sunlight ; flower cup and flower stalk covered
in the common form with long glandular hairs. A perfectly smooth and
glaucous variety is common in parts of New Brunswick and also occurs at
Port Hope, Ontario. Seeds [Plate 54, fig. 22 — natural size and enlarged 8
times) brown, oblong, somewhat flattened, about | inch long, ridged both
lengthwise and across, bearing at the top a copious tuft of very white silky
hairs, which spread in drying and enable the seed to be carried long dis-
tances by the wind.

Time of Flowering : June to August ; s^eed ripe Julv to September.
Propagation : Very rapid, by seeds and running rootstocks.

Occurrence : Abundant in cultivated fields and along roadsides from the
Atlantic coast to Manitoba, where it is becoming very noticeable and giving
much anxiety in the Red River Yalley.

Injury : The Perennial Sowthistle, from its vigorous running root-
stocks and the large amount of seeds it matures, is one of the most aggressive
enemies of the Canadian farmer. Wherever it establishes itself, it causes
great loss both in reducing the yields of crops and on account of the great
difficulty in eradicating it.

Remedy : The adoption of a regular three-year or other short rotation
of crops is the only hope of clearing a farm infested with this weed. This
plan has been used with great success at Ottawa by Mr. Grisdale in cleaning
a field badly infested with Perennial Sowthistle. In the West summer-
fallowing must be done early and the land cultivated as often as necessary
to keep down the fresh growths as they appear. If still abundant on the
land, this should be plowed late in fall and seeded down the following year
or used for a crop of oats or barley, to be sown late after spring cultivation
and cut green for feed. When this plant first appears in new localities, the
flowering stems should be pulled by hand as soon as the blossoms show in a
growing crop so as to prevent the seed ripening. For land not under spring*
crop, plough deeply in June and follow with rape, late roots or buckwheat.
Wherever Perennial Sowthistle is common a short rotation of crops is a ne-
cessity.

66

5a \v

Plate 34

PERENNIAL SOW-THISTLE

( Sorxchus arvensis, /.. i

In addition to the Perennial Sowthistle, there are two smaller annual
species of Sowthistles found commonly on rich land in all parts of Canada:
the COMMON SOWTHISXLE, Sonchus oleraceus, L., and the SPINY SOWTHISTLE,
Sonchus asper, L. The flowers of both of these are smaller, about i inch
across, pale yellow. The two plants may be easily distinguished by the
leaves and by the seeds. In the Common Sowthistle the leaves are more
deeply cut and are arrow-shaped at the base, having spreading acute auricles
or ear-like projections. The seeds [Plate 54, fig. 23 — natural size and en-
larged 8 times] are longitudinally ribbed and have fine cross lines connecting
the ribs. In the Spiny Sowthistle the whole plant is more prickly, and the
auricles at the base of the leaves, instead of spreading, are appressed to the
stem and curve round beneath the leaf. The seeds [Plate 54, fig. 24 — natural
size and enlarged 8 times] are longitudinally ribbed but have no connecting
cross lines. The two annual Sowthistles are particularly garden and stub-
ble-land weeds. Land ploughed or cultivated after harvest is seldom in-
fested. In gardens hoeing and hand-pulling before the seeds ripen will
keep down these annuals.

THE BORAGE FAMILY, BORRAGINACE&.

The plants of this family are chiefly rough or bristly-hairy herbs with
erect branching stems, simple entire leaves and symmetrical tubular flowers
\vith 5 lobes and a 5-parted calyx. The ovary is solitary and when ripe divides
in most species, into four hard one-seeded nutlets, which contain the true
seed and which may be rough or highly polished, downy or armed with
barbed prickles. The basal scars on the nutlets give useful characters in
identifying them when found in commercial seeds. The flowers are usually
in one-sided racemes that while young are coiled spirally inwards at the
tips, but unroll as the flowers open and become nearly straight. The Borage
family contains several weeds, as the Hound's-tongue or Common Bur, Cyno-
glossum officinale, L., a biennial wayside weed, the reddish purple flowers
and barbed nutlets of which are familiar to everyone in Eastern Canada.
The burs are very troublesome from getting entangled in the wool of sheep.

PLATE 35.

BLUEWEED, Echium vulgare, L.

Other English names : Yiper's Bugloss, Blue-thistle, Blue Devil.

(Noxious : Dom.)

Introduced. Biennial, with a deep black tap root. Whole plant bristly
hairy, the stiff bristles on the leaves from small pale prominences or tub-
ercles, those on the stem from red ones. Flowering stems erect and wand-
like, forming compound spikes of reddish buds and bright blue flowers,
1 to 2 feet high ; the spikelets curved round at the tips as usual in the Borage
family. Hoot leaves linear-oblong or linear-lanceolate, narrowed at base,
entire, bristly hairy above and below, 6 to 8 inches long, forming the first
year dense rosettes of long leaves lying flat on the ground; leaves of the
flowering stems sessile. Flowers tubular-funnelform, rather irregular, witli
five rounded spreading lobes ; calyx of 5 narrow bristly segments. Seeds
(nutlets) [Plate 56, fig. 69 — natural size and enlarged 4 times] 4 from each
flower, dark brown, J inch, irregularly angular-conical, hard and rough,
sharply angled on the inner face and rounded on the outer with a keel run-
ning from the sharp apex half way down the outer convex face ; basal scar
triangular, large and flat, acutely margined, with a small deep hole close to
the inner angle, having a little cone at the bottom ; there are also two little
conical projections beyond the centre in line with the side angles.

Time of Flowering: July to September; seed ripe August.

Propagation : By seed. Spread by dead plants being blown by wind
in winter.

Occurrence : Common by roadsides and in waste places throughout
Ontario and the eastern, provinces. Chiefly on limestone and on gravelly
or poor soil.

Injury. Most troublesome in rocky pastures. Seed occasionally found
in clover and other crop seeds and as a bur in wool.

Remedy: This bienntl weed is easily destroyed on cultivated land
and is seldom seen in fields kept under crop, but is much dreaded and en-
quired about by farmers, presumably on account of its showy and weedy
appearance.

PIGEON WEED, Liihospermum arvense, L. A seed which in form very
much resembles that of Blueweed, and which is much oftener found in com-
mercial seeds, is that of the Pigeon Weed, also called Eed-root, Wheat-
thief and Field Gromwell.

The size and general shape of the two seeds is similar. That of Pigeon
Weed [Plate 56, fig. 70 — natural size and enlarged 4 times] is rather less
angular and the surface is much smoother. Instead of having rough pro-
jections, it is deeply and irregularly grooved, with prominent ridges between
the grooves. It may be easily recognized by the basal scar, which is oval or

68

Plate 35

BLUEWEED OR VIPER'S BOGLOSS

t Echium vulgare./,.)

PLATE 36.

BLUE BUR, Echinospermum Lappula, Lehm.

Other English names : Stickweed, Sheep Bur.

Other Latin names : Myosotis Lappula, L. ; Lappula Lappula (L.) Karst.

(Noxious : N. W.)

Introduced. Annual and winter annual. Erect, branching only above
or from the base. Whole plant covered with short white hairs, which give
it a grayish appearance. Leaves linear-oblong; root leaves about 3 inches,
narrowed at base; stem leaves, sessile. Flowers small, pale blue, about £
inch across, erect, in leafy-bracted, more or less one-sided racemes. Seeds
(nutlets) [Plate 56, fig. 71 — natural size and enlarged 4 times] about J
inch, dark brown, pear-shaped, surface very rough; inner face sharply
angled, outer face rounded, bare of spines in the centre but having on the
sides a double series of long stiff spines, each of which has at its apex a
star of from 3 to 4 sharp hooks.

Time of Tf lowering \ From June ; seeds ripe July.
Propagation : By seed only.

Occurrence : By roadsides and in waste places in the East. In the
West chiefly in corrals and around buildings, but recently spreading with
alarming rapidity into cultivated land, where it is sometimes abundant on
fields left for summer-fallowing.

Injury : Seed very troublesome as a bur in wool ; also frequently found
as an impurity in commercial seeds, when many or all of the long barbed
bristles may be rubbed off, but there is no trouble in recognizing it from
the angled inner face with the small basal scar at the bottom of the cen-
tral ridge, and the unarmed area on the outer face.

Remedy: Early summer-fallowing; fall or spring ploughing. Sow
clean seed.

70

Plate 36

BLUE BURoR STICKSE-ED

( Ech inos perm u m Lappu la ,/.«///» )

f

THE MORNING-GLORY FAMILY, CONVOLVULACE^E.

The plants of this family possess marked characteristics by which they
are easily recognized : i. e., the twining stems, the trumpet-shaped flowers,
and the globose cartilaginous capsules with distinct divisions. There are
three species of Morning-glory, including among those plants which are
classed as weeds, the notorious Field Bindweed, the Hedge or Great Bind-
weed, Convolvulus sepiuni, L., var. americanus, Sims, which sometimes gives
trouble for a year or two after land is broken in the Prairie Provinces, and
the Upright Bindweed, Convolvulus spithamceus, L., which occasionally is
complained of in sandy land.

Closely allied to the Morning-glories are the Dodders, belonging to a
small natural order, the Cuscutacece. These are curious leafless parasites
occurring as loose tangled masses of fleshy threads, with clusters of flowers
or small round pods at short interval's, attached to various plants, from
which they draw their nourishment. The abundant occurrence of Dodder
seeds among Alfalfa and Clover seeds offered for sale during recent years,
as well as the presence of the parasite in large quantity in some fields of
Alfalfa in Ontario, has given rise to much interest in these plants. The
Dodder, the seeds of which are most frequently found as impurities with
those of Alfalfa and Clovers, is the Alfalfa Dodder, Cuscuta epiihymum,
Murr., formerly known as Cuscuta trifolii, Bab., because it so often infested
Clover (Trifolium). These seeds [Plate 54, fig. 34 — twice natural size and en-
larged 8 times] are small yellow or brown bodies varying in diameter from
yij to jV of an inch, irregularly globose, and more or less angled on the
inner scar-bearing side; the surface is granular-roughened, and these seeds
are very apt to be overlooked from their lack of distinct characters. When
soaked, the embryo is seen to be a spirally coiled worm-like body without
any seed-leaves.

Mr. G. H. Clark, the Seed Commissioner of the Department of Agri-
culture, who has taken much trouble to investigate the origin of the Dodder
seeds found in Canadian commercial seeds, has detected the seeds of another
species in South American seeds, which he has identified as Cuscuta race-
mosa, 'Mart., var. chiliana, Eng. These seeds are about twice as large as
those of Alfalfa Dodder and have a more rounded contour and a much
larger and more distinct flat basal scar. These large seeds are, owing to
their size, much more difficult to clean out of clover seeds than the com-
mon variety, and should be watched for carefully in clover and alfalfa seed.

PLATE 37.
FIELD BINDWEED, Convolvulus arvensis, L.

Other English names : Bindweed, Small Bindweed, European Bind-
weed, Small-flowered Morning-glory.

(Noxious : Dom., N. W.)

Introduced. Perennial, deep-rooting, with extensive creeping cord-lika
fleshy rootstocks; these throw up numerous slender branching and twining
smooth stems, which form thick mats on the surface of the land, and twist
around any plants growing within reach, using them as supports and chok-
ing them out. Leaves about 1 to 1J inches long on slender stalks, ovate or
heart-shaped, arrow-shaped at base. Flower-stalks slender, 1 to 2-flowered,
about the same length as the leaves, bracted at some distance below the
large open funnel-shaped pink flowers, which are over an inch across. Seeds
[Plate 56, fig. 72 — natural size and enlarged 4 times] rather large, |
of an inch, dark brown, pear-shaped ; outer face convex, inner bluntly angled
with flat sides. Surface roughened with small tubercles ; basal scar, two
smooth pale areas in a depression at the lower end of the inner face. Cap-
sules globose, cartilaginous, 2-celled, containing 3 to 4 seeds. Embryo much
folded and crumpled in the seed.

Time of Flowering : From June throughout the summer ; seeds ripe in
August.

Propagation : By seeds and by running rootstocks, every portio'n of
which will produce new plants if broken up by the plough. It is notice-
able that in many localities, as at Ottawa, this plant produces few seeds. It
has, however, everywhere a most persistent habit of growth and deserves
perhaps more than any other agricultural pest the appellation of "the worst
weed in Canada."

Occurrence : Although very widespread throughout the Dominion and
in restricted localities very troublesome, the Field Bindweed, fortunately,
cannot as yet be called a common weed of Canada.

Injury : Exceedingly hard to eradicate, from its almost incredible per-
sistence, owing to the vitality in the fleshy rootstocks.

Remedy : A short rotation including late sown roots or other, hoed crops,
rape being very useful for this purpose. Frequent use of a broad-shared
cultivator will destroy new growths and exhaust the vitality of the plants.
Great care should always be taken to sow no crop seeds containing those of
the Field Bindweed. Applications of salt, lime, or straw, sometimes recom-
mended to kill this weed are useless when used in practical quantities.

72

Plate 37

FIELD BINDWEED

(Convolvulus arvensis./.j

THE FIG WORT FAMILY, SCROPHULARIACE^E.

This large family, which includes the poisonous Foxglove (Digitalis) of
Europe, does not contribute many farm weeds in Canada. The plants are
remarkably variable in appearance, and in no order except perhaps the
Orchids are there so many varieties of irregular corollas. The leaves pre-
sent almost every form. The flowers are usually in spikes as in the Mul-
leins, or in panicles as in the rank-smelling Figworts, occasionally axillary
and solitary as in the aromatic Musk. The Corolla is of 4 or 5 petals, either
slightly united at the base or completely into a tube. The fruit is a 2-celled
capsule which opens when ripe and allows the numerous seeds to drop out.
In this family we find the Speedwells (Veronica), some species of which are
troublesome weeds on lawns, the introduced Red Bartsia, Bartsia Odontites,
Huds., and the Glandular Eyebright, Euphrasia latifolia, Pursh, both rather
common pasture weeds in Prince Edward Island, and the persistent deep-'
rooted perennial weed the TOAD FLAX, Linaria vulgaris, Mill., commonxand
injurious in all parts of Eastern Canada and gradually spreading into Mani-
toba. Where this plant has established itself, a short rotation of crops is
essential. The showy pale yellow flowers with orange lips, nearly an inch
long, are borne erect in dense racemes; the two-lobed corolla is closed and
mouth-like, but, by gentle pressure at the sides, it opens and closes like
the muzzle of an animal. The flat black disk-like winged seeds [Plate 54,
fig. 30 — natural size and enlarged 8 times] are about one-tenth of an inch in
diameter and are often found in grass seeds. They are easily recognized
from other seeds amongst which they occur, both by their shape and dark
colour.

THE VERBENA FAMILY, VERBENACEsE.

Is a small order allied to the Mint family and contains two or three tall
herbaceous plants with small flowers, which are meadow and pasture weeds
and of which the small seed-like nutlets are often found in grass seeds. The
commonest of these is that of the BLUE YEHVAIN, Verbena hastata, L. [Plate
54, fig. 31 — natural size and enlarged 8 times]. It is brown in colour except
the large whitish basal scar at the bottom of the inner face. The outer
face is convex, irregularly ridged lengthwise and sharply angled at the
sides. The inner face slopes to the margin from a sharply angled central
ridge.

THE MINT FAMILY, LABIATsE.

This large family contains several weeds, some of which are of com-
mon occurrence, but none of which are of much importance agriculturally.
The characters of the family are well marked and easily recognized. A
noticeable feature of these plants is the production of pleasantly aromatic
and oily secretions as in the case of Lavender, Mint, Peppermint, Sage,
Thyme, Rosemary, Bergamot, Patchouli, and many others which are used
for the production of perfumes or in cooking. No plant in this large order
is poisonous. Salient characters of this family are a square stem, often
downy, a strong scent when bruised, leaves always opposite and simple,
flowers generally clustered in the axils of the leaves, corolla irregular, more
or less mouth-shaped with large wide open lips, the lower of which is gen-
erally much larger. The fruit of these plants consists of the 4 lobes of the
ovary, which when ripe fall apart and become 4 seed-like nutlets or achenes

73

lying loose at the bottom of the calyx. Few plants of the Mint family are
troublesome enemies of the farmer on properly worked land, but the nut-
lets of a few are often found in commercial seeds. One of the most strik-
ing of these is that of the CATNKP, Nepeta Cataria, L. [Plate 54, fig. 33 —
natural size and enlarged 8 times], which is often found in Clover seed.
It is about one-sixteenth of an inch long, reddish brown, roundly oval, a
little flattened on the inner face. At the bottom of this face is the remark-
able basal scar which has two clear white eye-like cavities, one on each side
of it above.

The nutlets of the DKAGONHEAD, Draco eeplialum parmflorum, Nutt.
[Plate 54, fig. 32 — natural size* and enlarged 8 times], and of the HAIRY MINT,
Stachys paiustris, Nutt. [Plate 56, fig. 73' — natural size* and enlarged
4 times], have of recent years been found abundantly among the screenings
of western wheat and occasionally also among the grain . These two seeds
or nutlets are superficially much alike, but, when compared together, those
of the Dragonhead are longer (£ inch) and narrower, being twice as long as
wide, more angular and somewhat winged or wrinkled along the angles near
the apex. The basal scar is large and curved, with a slit in the middle, giv-
ing it the appearance of a mouth; colour dark brown; the outer convex face
very indistinctly ridged lengthwise and granular-roughened. In the Hairy
Mint, the nutlets are smoother, dull black, rounded, nearly as wide as long,
the inner face only slightly angled at the centre and edges, the scar merely
a pale spongy spot at the sharp end of the nutlet.

Somewhat resembling at first sight the nutlets of Labiates are the seeds
of the SUN SPURGE, Euphorbia Helioscopia, L. [Plate 56, fig. 77 — natural
size and enlarged 4 times]. When examined closely, however, they are
easily recognized. They are rounded-oval in outline, rolling freely on a
smooth surface, a little flattened on the inner face, .with a central sharp
ridge running to the apex; sides of the seeds not angled, as in those of the Mint
family, scar kidney-shaped, white and very conspicuous, hollowed out at
the base of the inner face; the whole surface of the seed coarsely netted
with raised lines. These seeds have been found several times among vege-
table and garden seeds.

THE RIBWORT FAMILY, PLANTAGINACE&.

This family in Canada embraces a few species of weedy stemless plants
with inconspicuous flowers borne in long slender spikes at the top of bare
flower-stalks or scapes. The fruit is a membranous capsule the upper part
of which, when the seeds are ripe, drops off whole like the lid of a box.
Although some species are very abundant on farm lands, they demand atten-
tion of farmers far more from the frequency with which the seeds are found
among those of clovers and grasses than as troublesome weeds in fields.
From their colour the seeds are very conspicuous among grass seeds, and
on account of their size they are difficult to separate from them. This
renders a knowledge of the appearance of the common kinds very import-
ant. The seeds of plantains may be roughly separated into two groups
according to their shape : in one division, the seeds are irregularly angular
like small grains of gun powder, e.g., the Common Plantain and the Pale
Plantain ; i'n the other, they are boat-shaped, hollow on one side and rounded
on the other, e.g., the Narrow-leaved Plantain or Ribgrass, and the Bracted
Plantain. All of these seeds develop a coat of mucilage when thoroughly
wetted, by means of which their distribution is much facilitated.
* The figure to show the natural size is slightly too large.

74

Plate 38

COMMON PLANTAIN

(Planhago major./. >

PLATE 38.

COMMON PLANTAIN, Planiago major, L.

Other English names: Broad-leaf Plantain, Greater Plantain, Door-
yard Plantain, Bird-seed Plantain.

Introduced and native. Perennial. Kootstock short and thick, erect,
bearing many thick spreading roots and a large tuft of dark green oval,
long-petioled, coarsely toothed, spreading or ascending leaves and several
long dense spikes 3 to 12 inches long of inconspicuous flowers with purple
anthers. Seed capsules oval, dividing about the middle. Seeds [Plate 54,
fig. 25 — natural size and enlarged 8 times] greenish brown, very variable in
size and shape, according to the number in the capsule, which varies on differ-
ent plants from 8 to 16, rounded on the outer face, angular on the inner
or scar side ; scar pale and conspicuous ; the surface of the seed is finely netted
with broken waved lines of dark brown, which radiate from the scar, average
length one-twentieth of an inch.

Time of Flowering : May, throughout the summer ; seed ripe in July.
Propagation : By seeds.

Occurrence : In various forms, some of which may be distinct species
as indicated by the difference in habit and the degree of pubescence. Through-
out the Dominion. Generally growing in rich moist soil.

Injury : Troublesome in meadows from reducing the grade of the seed
and causing much extra expense in cleaning the seeds of grasses and clovers.
On lawns the flat rosettes of leaves crowd out the grass and give an untidy
appearance.

Remedy : Meadows to be left for seed should be thoroughly cleaned
with hoed crops or by other special means and seeded down with well cleaned
seed. In removing Plantains from lawns, a sharp knife should be run
round deeply close to the crown, and the plant removed. This method dis-
figures the lawn far less than by digging out all the roots.

THE PALE PLANTAIN, Plantago Rugellii, Dec. Occurring with the Com-
mon Plantain, may often be found a rather larger plant with more erect
smooth leaves of a paler or yellowish green, with the leaf-stalks purple at
the base. The spikes are longer, and the flowers less crowded. The cap-
sules more pointed, 4 to 9-seeded, opening below the middle. Seeds [Plate
54, fig. 26 — natural size and enlarged 8 times] of the same angular shape
as those of the Common Plantain, but about twice as large, and nearly
black, with the surface merely roughened, not lined and netted. The seeds
are a very common impurity in those of Timothy and Alsike.

75

PLATE 39.

RIBGRASS, Plantago lanceolata, L.

Other English names : Buckhorn, English Plantain, Ribwort.

(Noxious: Dom.)

Introduced. Perennial or biennial. Rootstock short and erect. Leaves
numerous, 2 to 12 inches long, narrowly lanceolate and distinctly 3 to 5-
ribbed, hairy and with tufts of brownish hairs at the base. In th3 first year
the leaves lie close to the ground, forming a close rosette; on old plants they
are erect. Flower stalks stiff, slender and grooved, 1 to 2 feet, much taller
than the leaves, Flower heads at first ovoid and rather showy by reason
of their numerous yellow anthers, elongating with age and forming dense
cylindrical black spikes of seed, from 1 to 4 inches long. Capsules oblong,
very obtuse, 2-seeded, opening about the middle. Seeds [Plate 54, fig. 28
—natural size and enlarged 8 times] chestnut brown, minutely granular-
roughened, but highly polished, boat-shaped, with rounded ends, the outer
face rounded with the edges folded inward around a deep longitudinal
groove, in the centre of which lies the dark coloured scar which sometimes
has a pale ring of dried mucilage around it.

Time of Flowering : Throughout the summer ; seed ripe by July.
Propagation : By seeds.

Occurrence : From Atlantic to Pacific, but much commoner in some
places than in others. Widely distributed with the seeds of clovers and
grasses.

Injury : The chief injury by Ribgrass is due to the presence of the seeds
among those of grasses and clovers grown for sale. The plant itself is
palatable to stock and provides fodder of fair quality, although inferior to
the true grasses.

Remedy : The ploughing down of infested meadows, and re-sowing with
clean seed. The plants can be removed from lawns in the same way as the
Common Plantain.

THE HOARY PLANTAIN, Plantago media, L. A plant which is much less
frequently seen than Ribgrass but which has the same wide range, from the
seed having been distributed with those of grasses, is the Hoary Plantain.
This has the ovate leaves thickly covered with white hairs, short-stalked
and always lying close to the ground in a dense rosette. It is deep-rooted
and more difficult to eradicate from lawns by spudding than the other
species here mentioned. The flower stalks are slender and about a foot
high. Flower heads showy by reason of their purple filaments and white
anthers, at first oval, gradually elongating to cylindrical spikes 1 to -3 inches
long, flowers pleasantly fragrant. Capsules oblong, 2 to 3-seeded, seed of the
boat-shaped class, of about the same size as that of Ribgrass, but thinner
and flatter, often somewhat twisted, with the edges not so roundly turned
in around the groove which bears the scar. Many seeds [Plate 54, fig. 27
— natural size and enlarged 8 times] show an indistinct shallow groove or

76

Plate39

c\

RIBGRASS

i Planrago lanceol afa./, t

constriction across the outer face just below the middle, indicating the part
of the seed which fitted into the top of the capsule ; these seeds have that
part somewhat narrower and the margin more folded over the scar-groove.
The Hoary Plantain is intermediate in appearance between the Com-
mon Plantain and the Ribgrass, and its seeds are intermediate between
those of Ribgrass and of the Bracted Plantain.

THE BRACTED PLANTAIN, Plantago aristata, Michx. This annual Plan-
lain is a western plant which is rather uncommon in Canada, although its
seeds are not uncommon in grass and clover seed in our seed trade. It has
narrow linear grass-like leaves, the whole plant is downy, flower stalks
erect, bearing thick cylindrical spikes 1 to 4 inches long, with conspicuous
pointed bracts. Capsules 2-seeded. The seeds [Plate 54, fig. 29 — natural
size and enlarged 8 times] are boat-shaped, of the same size and form as
those of Ribgrass, but are slightly wider, with sharper edges to the margin
of the inner face. The elongated scar consists of two small shallow pits
lying close together in the centre of the inner excavated face, the whole of
which is whitened by a coating of dried mucilage. The rounded outer face
has a distinct shallow groove crossing it just below the middle. This groove
and the two pits of the scar present the best characters for distinguishing
this seed.

THE SPINACH OR GOOSEFOOT FAMILY, CHENOPODIACEsE.

The Spinach family contains many weedy plants, some of which are
aggressive enemies of the agriculturist. Among these is the so-called Rus-
sian Thistle (Noxious: Man., N.W.), and also the Lamb's-quarters, which
is probably the most abundant weed in all parts of the country. The flowers,
which are almost always green and insignificant, have no corolla; each flower
produces only a single seed within a bladder-like covering known as a utricle;
but seeds are borne in enormous numbers on each plant. Some plants in this
natural order supply wholesome articles of food, as the Spinach, Beetroot,
Garden Orache and Lamb's-quarters.

77

PLATE 40.

LAMB'S-QUARTERS. Chenopodium album, L.
Other English names : Pigweed, Fat-hen, White Goosefoot.

Introduced and native. Annual. Extremely variable in every char-
acter. Mostly a tall succulent herbaceous annual with a slender, erect,
grooved, much branched stem, 2 to 6 feet high, with angular-ovate, pale
green, coarsely toothed leaves, narrowed at the base and borne on slender
foot-stalks. Flowers in compound spikes from the axils of the leaves; whole
plant more or less covered with white or pink mealy particles. Plants found
late in the season are of a much darker green colour and have the leaves less
angled. Seed [Plate 54, fig. 35 — natural size and enlarged 8 times] about
^V of an inch, circular in outline, more or less flattened on one side,
strongly convex on the other; edges bluntly rounded; the lower convex
face grooved from the margin to the central scar ; seed shining black, minutely
wrinkled, enclosed in a very thin papery seed vessel, called a utricle. The
seeds, as found among crop seeds, have this thin seed vessel closely adhenr><.-
to the seed as a brown or gray mealy deposit, which gives them a granular-
roughened appearance; they also often have the dried 5-angled calyx closed
tightly over them. When plants are picked or shaken roughly after the
seeds are ripe, but while the plant is still green, the seeds fall out of the
calyx very easily. Some seeds may also be found in screenings of grain,
from which the brittle black coat has been partially broken away, when the
yellow rinpr-like embryo will be seen surrounding the darker central portion
of the seed.

A much larger seed, ^ of an inch in diameter, of exactly the same
appearance as the above, and which is sometimes found in crop seeds
with it, is that of the MAPLE-LEAVED GOOSEFOOT, Chenopodium hybridum, L.

Time of Flowering and Seeding : From June to frost.

Propagation: By seed.

Occurrence : Everywhere, in rich land.

Injury : A gross feeder and a vigorous rapid grower, which in seasons
favourable to its growth crowds and chokes out growing crops. Seed very
abundant in all kinds of commercial seeds.

Remedy : Harrowing growing crops of cer'eals when the grain plants are
three inches high will destroy myriads of the young seedlings of this and
all other annual weeds among grain, which have germinated in the top 1 or 2
inches of soil, without injury to the much deeper-rooted drilled-in grain.
When the plants are in small numbers or in clover grown for seed, pull by
hand. Late plants growing in hoed crops should be carefully destroyed to
prevent the seed from falling.

78

Plate 40

LAMB'S QUARTERS OR PIGWEED

( Cbenopodium album./.)

OF THE

WNIVER5ITY

OF

Plate 41

\

RUSSIAN PIGWEED

( Axyris amaranhoides./. )

PLATE 41.

RUSSIAN PIGWEED, Axyris amarantoidei, L.

(Noxious: N.W.)

Introduced. Annual. A tall coarse plant from 2 to 4 feet high, erect and
widely branching, very leafy. Stems grooved, rather pale at base, twigs and
lower side of upper leaves covered with rusty pubescence. Leaves lanceolate,
on short petioles, sparsely toothed. Flowers of two kinds ; spikes of anther-
bearing flowers, from half an inch to 3 inches long, terminate every branch-
let, and fertile flowers cluster the branchlets thickly below these, each one
producing a single seed. Seeds [Plate 56, fig. 74 — natural size and enlarged
4 times] oval, flattened, TV of an inch, gray, with a silky lustre; sur-
face minutely lined and wrinkled lengthwise ; basal scar a short deep groove
across the lower end; many seeds have the close-fitting utricle or cartila-
ginous covering projecting above the top as a two-lobed wing ; this covering
is beautifully mottled with white zig-zag lines on a brown ground. Embryo
in a curved ring or loop around the outside of the central portion of the seed.
Russian Pigweed when young has somewhat the appearance of Lamb's-quar-
ters, but is a paler green, has a more wand-like habit of growth and, instead
of being mealy, is softly pubescent with short star-shaped hairs. When full-
grown, the whole plant forms a large pyramidal compound raceme; and,
when mature, the stems, bracts and papery calyx segments turn white and
make this weed very conspicuous.

Tune of flowering: June; seed ripe July-August.

Propagation: By seeds. Carried by the wind. The broken off plants
and branches become tumbling weeds, by which the range of this Pigweed
has been much extended.

Occurrence : The species was first noticed in Canada in 1886 by the
i jadside at Headingley, 10 miles west of Winnipeg in Manitoba, to which
place it was said to have been brought direct from Russia. It is now found
along the lines of railway throughout the North-west, and has even been
detected on a railway bank as far east as Sherbrooke, P.Q.

Injury : A leafy, gross feeding, wide-rooting annual which crowds grow-
ing crops and gives a very weedy appearance to farm lands. The thick woody
stems are very troublesome when crops are being harvested. The abundant
seeds, somewhat like small gray flax seeds, are found commonly in grain
from a few districts, infested by this rank-growing weed. It is, therefore,
most important that every care should be taken to prevent it from spreading
from roadsides and waste places, as it has every characteristic of a bad and
aggressive enemy.

Remedy : Harrowing out young seedlings from a growing grain crop, in
the same way as Lamb's-quarters. Hand-pulling when not too abundant.
Mowing and burning plants by waysides, along railways and in waste
places.

79

THE PIGWEED FAMILY, AMARANTACEsE.

The Pigweeds are a small family of plants, mostly of tropical origin,
very closely allied with the Chenopods or Spinach family. All of them with
us are coarse weedy annuals of rich land in gardens and ou farms. The
flowers are small and inconspicuous, and they produce enormous quantities
of small highly polished, lens-shaped, more or less margined seeds. The
leaves are simple and petioled. Some of the exotic members of this family
are gorgeously coloured and are grown for their ornamental foliage or in-
florescence, as the Cockscombs (Celosia), the Rainbow Amaranth, Amarantus
tricolor, and the well known Love-lies-bleeding, Amarantus caudatus, L.
The seeds are Icrne singly as in the Spinach family, and enclosed in a. thin
cartilaginous covering known botanically as a utricle.

PLATE 42.

REDROOT PIGWEED, Amarantus rctroflcxas, L.

Other English names : Rough Pigweed, Chinaman's Greens.

(Noxious: N.W.)

Introduced. Annual, with a rosy nink tap-root. Stems erect simnle or
branched, rough pubescent. Leaves long-petioled, ovate, bristle-pointed.
Flowers inconspicuous, numerous, crowded on thick compound spikes at the
ends of the branches and in the axils of the leaves. Bracts of the flowers
bristle-pointed, longer than the green sepals. Seed [Plate 54, fig. 36 — natural
size and enlarged 8 times'] highly polished, reddish blaclc to jet black, about
..',- of an inch in diameter, circular or egg-shaped in outline, mxich flattened
and equally convex on both sides ; poorly filled seeds have a narrow slightly
flattened marginal band, which marks the location of the ring-like embryo
lying round the outside of the seed. The basal scar is a light point on the
edge of the seed where the two tips of the embryo meet, and has a low de-
pression around it on both faces of the seed.

Time of Flowering : July to September; seed ripe by August.
Propagation : By seed.

Occurrence : In all crops. Thoroughly established in all the settled por-
tions of the Dominion. Abundant in waste places around farm buildings
and in gardens. Widely spread by the seeds, which occur commonly in all
commercial seeds.

Injury : A large weedy plant which crowds crops and increases the labour
of working land. Seeds common in those of grasses and clovers,

Remedy : Can be controlled by shallow cultivation and hand-pulling.

The TUMBLE WEED, Amarantus albus, L. Another Amaranth which is
very abundant throughout the country, but particularly so in the West, is
the Tumble Weed, a bushy branched erect or procumbent annual weed with
whitish stems and small oval or spatulate leaves, in the axils of most of
which, on old plants, are small clusters of flowers or seeds. When mature.

80

Plate42

REDROOT PIGWEED

t Amaranl-us relroflexus,/-.>

these plants break off at the ground and are blown long distances by the
wind, scattering their seeds as they go. The seeds are much like those of
the Red root Pigweed, and although averaging rather smaller, about ^
of au inch, cannot always be distinguished from them when found among
other crop seeds.

SPHEADING AMARANTH, Amarantus blitoides, Watson. This species re-
sembles the Tumble Weed very much, but has rather larger rounder leaves
and prostrate diffusely branching rather fleshy stems, which form large mats
attached by the central root. This is a native annual plant of the western
prairies, but is frequent along railways in the East, and the seeds are often
found in alfalfa, clover and grass seeds from the Western States. The seeds
can be easily distinguished from those of the Tumble Weed by their large
size, TL of an inch, which is nearly twice that of the other species.
Unless closely examined, the seeds of the Amaranths may sometimes be con-
fused with rubbed seeds of the Lamb's-quarters. The surface of the former,
however, is always more highly polished and smoother. The character of the
scar will be found the easiest point for distinguishing them, being a central
point with a long groove on one side in the Chenopods, and a notch in the
margin in the Amaranths. The seeds of the Lamb's-quarters and of the Red-
root Pigweed are small and of about the same size,; those of the Maple-leaved
Goosefoot and of the Spreading Amaranth are both nearly twice as big and
compare with each other in a similar manner.

81

(6)

THE BUCKWHEAT FAMILY, POLYGONACE&.

The Buckwheat family contains several weedy plants, some of which
are troublesome on farms. The objectionable members of the family all
belong to two genera, the Docks (Rumex), and the Smartweeds, or Knotweeds
(Polygonum). Many of these require some attention to keep them under
control, but none can be said to be very difficult to eradicate on well-kept
farms. The Docks are tall-stemmed perennial weeds with tap-roots, found in
pastures and meadows ; they live for many years but, with few exceptions,
as in the case of the Sheep Sorrel, do not spread from the root. The achenes
enclosing the seeds are shaped like those of the buckwheat, being triangular
in cross section, or as the name buckwheat (which is merely a corruption
of beechwheat) indicates, shaped like small beechnuts. There is no
true corolla, the achenes being surrounded merely by the 6-parted calyx,
3 segments of which are small and the other 3 large, wing-like and
variously shaped and veined in the different species. One or all three of
these wings may bear a seed-like-corky tubercle on the outside. The "seeds"
of all species are much alike, and the wing-like segments, often found at-
tached to the seeds as they occur among crop seeds, are a great help in recog-
nizing the different species.

The weeds of the Knotweed and Smartweed division of the family are
found in three rather distinct groups of the genus Polygonum :

(1) The Knotweeds are well represented by the very common DOORWEED,
Polygonum, aviculare, L., which accompanies civilized man everywhere, and

is found along roads and trails, forming mats of spreading wiry jointed
stems with a leaf, a pair of silvery scales and a small cluster of flowers at

each joint, each flower producing a slender reddish-brown triangular achene

, ilf of an inch long.

(2) The Smartweeds, or Persicaries, are represented by several plants of
various habits, some are perennials with extensive running rootstocks, as the
SWAMP PERSICARY, Polygonum Muhlenbergii, Wat., which is sometimes
very persistent in low undrained spots, others are fleshy-stemmed annuals,
as the LADY'S-THTTMB, Polygonum Persicaria,' L., the shining black, TV
of an inch, ovate heart-shaped, hollowed out on one side or roundly triangular
seeds (achenes) of which [Plate 54, fig. 37 — natural size and enlarged 8 times]
are frequently found among the seeds of grasses and clover, and the DOCK-
LEAVED PERSICARY, Polygonum lapathifolium, L., a common tall-growing
and rather aggressive weed among grain and clover on rich low land in all
parts of Eastern Canada. The "seeds" of the latter, which also occur with
the above, are TV of an inch long, more roundly heart-shaped, chocolate
brown, hollowed on both faces and never triangular. A larger (^ inch)
blackish "seed" closely resembling both of the preceding, but more fre-
quently bearing the spike-like base of the pistil at the tip, is that of the
(.TLANDTTLAR PERSICARY, Polygonum pennsylvanicum, L. The "seeds" of
this plant, as those of the Lady's-thumb, are sometimes triangular.

(3) The third group contains plants mostly with twining or climbing
stems and with arrow-head-shaped leaves, as the Wild Buckwheat [Plate 43].

82

Oi

* : \
UNIVERSITY |

*J

£ j, OF

Plate 43

WILD BUCKWHEAT OR BLACK BINDWEED
( Polygonum Convolvulus./, i

PLATE 43.
WILD BUCKWHEAT, Polygonum Convolvulus, L.

Other English name : Black Bindweed.

Introduced. Annual. A twining vine with rather rough branching
stems and thin, smooth, arrow-head-shaped leaves. Flowers greenish, droop-
ing, on short slender pedicels, in small clusters from the axils of the leaves
and in loosely flowered terminal racemes. Calyx 5-parted, persistent, close-
ly wrapped around the single dull black triangular seed (achene) [Plate 56,
fig. 75 — natural size and enlarged 4 times], which is about J-inch long,
bluntly pointed at the apex, and almost twice as long as broad, widest just
above the middle; embryo club-shaped, small, curved and lying along one
angle of the seed in a groove in the large central mealy mass.

Time of Flowering : From June throughout the summer, the seeds ri-
pening irregulirly from about the beginning of July.

Propagation ; By seed.

Occurrence -. General. Most injurious in the Prairie Provinces.

Injury : Twining around the stems of the small grains, binding them
together, pulling them down and choking them out, also a great nuisance in
potato fields. The seeds begin to ripen long before all grain crops, and in
that way land devoted to grain crops for several years becomes badly infested ;
the seeds are one of the most abundant impurities in grain sent to the mar-
ket, particularly in wheat and oats. The seeds have considerable value as
feed for stock, for which reason screenings containing these and other weed
seeds are often carried back from the elevators by farmers and fed without
grinding or scalding, which is a dangerous practice.

Remedy : Harrow or cultivate stubbles directly after harvest, so as to
cover up and encourage the germination of as many seeds as possible in
autumn. Tho young plants will be killed by frost. Those seedlings which
•rerminate in spring must be destroyed by cultivating before seeding or by
harrowing after the grain is up. Ploughing for summer-fallow must be
done earlj7, so as to turn down plants on stubble before the seeds ripen.

83

PLATE 4.4.

CURLED DOCK, Rumex crispus, L.
Other English names : Yellow Dock, Sour Dock.

(Noxious : Dom.)

Introduced. Perennial, with a very deep tap-root. Stem 2 to 3 feet,
smooth, erect, terminating in wand-like racemes. Root-leaves oblong-lance-
olate in outline with much crested or waved margins, 6 to ]2 inches long,
on long petioles; stem-leaves on short petioles and much smaller or absent
towards the top of the stems. Flowers small, in rather widely separated
clusters around the stems. The 3 inner segments of the calyx enlarging as
the seed ripens, heart-shaped, with the margin entire or obscurely toothed,
all with grain-like tubercles on the outside. Seed (achene) [Plate 56, fig.
76 natural size and enlarged 4 times], TV of an inch long, shaped like a
miniature beech-nut, dark brown, shining.

Time of Flowering : June ; seeds ripe July.

Propagation : By seeds. Clumps increasing slowly by shoots from the
crowns of old plants.

Occurrence: In fields and waste places. Naturalized from Atlantic to
Pacific, very abundant in Southern and Western Ontario.

Injury : A common weed in meadows and pastures, and also abundant
by roadsides, whence the seeds blow on to cultivated land. The seeds are a
common impurity in grass and clover seeds.

Remedy : Land worked under a short rotation is never badly infested
by docks. In clover meadows all plants seen should be spudded out. This
is easily done when the land is soft after rain.

84

Plate 44

CURL&D DOCK
;Rumex crisp us./,.)

^ V

OFTHt

UNIVERSITY I

OF /

Plate 45

SHEEP SORREL

(Rumex acehose I la , /. )

PLATE 45.

SHEEP SORREL, Rumex Acdosella, L.
Other English names : Sour-grass, Field Sorrel, Red

Introduced. Perennial, very persistent by extensively spreading yel-
low fleshy rootstocks. Stems slender, 6 o 18 inches, erect or ascending,
branched above. Leaves with silvery 2-parted stipules at the base, narrow-
ly arrow-head-shaped, entire, 1 to 4 inches long, quite smooth and rather
fleshy, on long petioles. Flowers numerous m panicled racemes, of two
kinds on separate plants : the male or anther-bearing flowers have conspicu-
ous anthers; the female or pistillate flowers are much less showy and are tip-
ped with three tiny crimson feathery stigmas. Seeds (achenes) [Plate 54,
fig. 38 — natural size and enlarged 8 times], as they occur among clover and
grass seeds, generally covered by the three larger conspicuously veined calyx
segments, which fit closely over the seed. The three small segments which
alternate with these, fit over the angles of the achene outside the edges of the
larger segments. The achene itself when the calyx segments are removed
is Vo of an inch long and nearly as broad, triangular-ovate, pale brown,
shining.

Time of Flowering: May to August; seeds ripe July to September.
Propagation : By seeds and shallow running rootstocks.
Occurrence : Naturalized in all parts of the country.

Injury : The seeds are one of the most abundant impurities in clover
and grass seeds. The plants increase rapidly in thin or worn-out meadows
and in pastures, both on uplands and in hay marshes — crowding out the
grass and much reducing the crop. Sheep Sorrei ir also a troublesome weed
in gardens.

Remedy. In upland pastures a top-dressing of lime is said to be very
beneficial. Where land can be ploughed the sod should be manured and
ploughed down and the land re-seeded. In gardens, constant shallow cul-
tivation is necessary.

85

THE GRASS FAMILY, GRAMINE&.

There are among the true Grasses not only most valuable fodder plants,
besides all of the cereal grains, but also several bad weeds, the occurrence
of which in fields is directly due to the sowing of their seeds mixed with
grain or other crop seeds. Among the most injurious annual grasses are
Wild Oats and the Poison Darnel [Plate 51]. Chess, Bromus secalinus, L.,
is a biennial and is often abundant in fields of fall wheat, particularly where
there is a thin stand of the grain plants. Of perennial grasses which are
troublesome, the worst are : the notorious Couch or Quack Grass [Plate 46]
of the East; and the Sweet Grass [Plate 49], Skunk-tail Grass [Plate 47] and
Spear Grass, Stipa spartea, Trin., of the West.

CHESS, Bromus secalinus, L., is an introduced biennial which is hardier
than wheat, and where young plants of fall wheat have been killed out by
the winter, Chess plants growing among the wheat from seeds sown with the
grain, are seldom injured, but flourish to such an extent that some farmers
have been led to the erroneous conclusion that Chess has originated from
wheat plantlets which have been injured in various ways. It has, however,
been proved conclusively that Chess is an entirely distinct grass which can
grow only from its own kind of seeds ; moreover, these seeds [Plate 56, fig. 78
— natural size and enlarged 4 times] always have upon them a husk with a row
of bristles down each side of the groove, by which as well as by their shape
they may be easily distinguished from those of wheat. All doubters are
recommended to dig up some plants of Chess as soon as they are recognizable
in their fields, when they will find that the seeds from which the Chess plants
began to grow the previous autumn, are still attached to the roots and that
these are very different from grains of wheat. ,

86

OF THE

{ UNIVERSITY )

OF

•CALIFS

Plate46

-^

COUCH, QUACK OR SCUTCH GRASS

( Ag ropy rum repens./..)

PLATE 46.

COUCH OR QUACK GRASS, Agropyrum repens (L.) Beauv.

Other English names: Scutch, Twitch, Quitch.
Other Latin name : Triticum repens, L.

Introduced and native. Perennial by very wide-spreading but shallow
fleshy rootstocks, forming large, matted beds. Flowering stems rather free-
ly produced, smooth above, downy on the leaf sheaths below. Flowers in
3 to 7-ilowered spikelets, forming a narrow spike with the spikelets lying
flatly against the central stalk. Leaves grayish green, rather distinctly
•ribbed, and more or less hairy. Seed in the husk [Plate 56, fig. 79 — natural
size and enlarged 4 times] about § of an inch long, slender, 5
to 7-nerved, usually with an awn & inch long at the tip ; the seed itself is
shaped like a small grain of wheat f^ of an inch long with wide open crease,
the basal germ end pointed, and at the top a blunt fuzzy tip.

Time of Flowering: About the end of June; seeds ripe July.

Propagation : By seeds and extensively creeping rootstocks near the
surface of the ground. When broken by plough or cultivator, every piece
of the rootstock is capable of forming a new plant ; such pieces may be car-
ried from field to field on farm implements.

Occurrence : In all kinds of soil. The eastern form with bright green
leaves, which is probably the European plant, that has been introduced, is
abundant east of the Prairie Provinces, and also in a few localities in Mani-
toba and the North-west. The native form with very grayish green foliage,
named Agropyrum glaucum, R. & S., var. occidentale, V. & S., is a far
less aggressive weed, even where both forms are growing close together.

Injury : A most persistent weed in all deep-ploughed land, and in all
crops, with great power of spreading and choking out other plants. The.
seeds are a very common impurity among seeds of the coarser grasses and in
oats.

Remedy : Shallow ploughing in hot weather is essential in clearing land
of this well known weed. Thorough harrowing after ploughing will drag
out many of the fleshy rootstocks, which will soon dry up in the sun and
can be burnt.

Rape sown after the land has been harrowed two or three times and well
cultivated, is one of the best cleaning crops for late sowing; the seed should
be sown 4 pounds to the acre in drills 26 inches apart, and the field kept
clean with horse hoe, and afterwards with more or less hand hoeing if re-
quired. The land may be put under another hoed crop, corn, potatoes or
other roots the following year.

It is recommended by some who have had experience in fighting Quack
Grass, that in badly infested fields, the land be ploughed shallow late in the
autumn and well cultivated to expose the rootstocks to the action of the frost.
In the spring, re-plough shallow, and keep the ground stirred frequently
enough to prevent new growth till midsummer, then sow a smothering crop,
such as buckwheat or millet, which will choke out the weakened plants. It
may be necessary sometimes to follow the above treatment with a hoed crop.

87

PLATE 47.
SKUNK-TAIL GRASS. HorJeum jubatum, L.

Other English names : Skunk Grass, Squirrel-tail Grass. Wild Barley,
Tickle Grass, and, inaccurately, "Fox-tail."

Native. Perennial, not flowering the first year, forming tufts 8 to 12
inches high. Leaves grayish green. Flowers in beautiful silky bristly
heads 3 to 4 inches long, pale yellowish green, often tinged with red. When
ripe the spikes break up into 7-awned clusters of three flowers, the central
one of which is long-awned and fertile ; this produces a slender sharp-pointed
seed ; on each side of this and attached to it at the base are two abortive
florets, each with three shorter awns than the central one; both the sharp
seed and the awns are barbed upwards.

Time of Flowering : July ; seeds ripe July to August.

Propagation : By seeds. This grass is frequently stated in works in
which it is mentioned, to be an annual or a biennial ; but all of the plants
which I have grown for many years at Ottawa from western seed during the
past twenty years, are certainly perennial, forming large tufts, but sending
out no running rootst'ocks.

Occurrence : From Lake Superior westward, particularly in alkaline
soil, where other better grasses cannot thrive.

Injury : This native grass is a very serious enemy of western stockmen,
and is a source of much injury to horses, cattle and sheep. The barbed
seeds and awns, when taken into the mouth, penetrate the soft tissues, caus-
ing annoying irritation and inflamed ulcers, which make the animals bite
their tongues and lips so that these are frequently badly lacerated. They
also work down beside the teeth, causing great inflammation and eventually
swellings which have sometimes been taken for the disease known as Lumpy
Jaw or Big Jaw (actinomycosis). The awns are also said by Prof. Aven Nel-
son (Wyoming Exp. Station, Bull, 19, 1894), to "work into the wool about
the eyes of sheep, and then into the tissues surrounding the eye, and even
into the ball itself, and in many instances causing total blindness." He also
cites one case where this injury happened to the whole of a bunch of calves.

Remedy: Mr. T. N. Willing, of Regina, Sask., who has carefully stud-
ied the weeds of the North-west, sums up the best methods of dealing with
!Skunk-tail Grass as follows in his Bulletin No. 16, "Hints for the Grain
Grower," 1905 : "There is no difficulty in eradicating this grass from any
land which can be ploughed, as the usual method of breaking in June will
destroy it. It gives most trouble in waste places where it ripens its seed,
which is spread abroad in every direction by wind and water. It grows
freely about the edges of hay sloughs on the prairie, and is generally ripe
before any hay is cut. The remedy in this case would be cutting before the
seeds were formed. In a wet season, probably a second cutting would be
necessary to prevent any seed ripening. If this course were continued for
a few seasons, the pest would die a natural death, but it is the usual practice
not only to cut too late, but also to avoid cutting the borders of sloughs in
dry seasons when the grass is thin. Such methods favour tho spread of this

88

P!ate47

iii

SKUNK GRASS. WILD BARLEY OR SQUIRREL- TAIL GRASS
(Hordeum jubal'um.i.)

objectionable grass. When fields of Awnless Brome Grass are badly infested,
it is best to break and backset them, and then take a crop of grain before
re-seeding, or the field may be burned over in the fall to destroy such seed of
the Wild Barley as may have fallen, and early in the following spring
plough the sod shallow, and then harrow and roll. In this way the Brome
Grass may be renewed without re-seeding, and most of the weed will have
been destroyed.

"Excessive irrigation is said to favour the growth and spread of this
weed. Ditches and roads should be kept free of it."

In addition to the above good advice, it may be mentioned that when
hay is found to be badly mixed with Skunk-tail Grass having ripe or hard
seeds, owing to the light feathery nature of the dry heads, the greater part
of them may be removed by tossing the hay lightly with a pitchfork on a
windy day. The heads can easily be disposed of afterwards by raking to-
gether and putting a lighted match to the pile.

Skunk-tail Grass is a true Barley, and when young makes excellent feed
both green and as hay.

SHORT-AWNED SKUNK-TAIL GRASS. Growing with the ordinary long-
awned and pale-coloured form is an easily detected variety with much shorter
awns to the seeds, taller and more erect stems, and the spikes which are
slenderer and more drooping much more tinged with red. The habits of the
two grasses are identical, and although generally growing together and
equally common, one form as a rule preponderates in a locality.

89

PLATE 48.
WILD OATS, Avena fatua, L., var. glabrata, Petermann.

Other Latin names: Avena fatua, L., var. glabrescens. Cosson, and
Avena strigosa, Schreb., of Canadian writers.

(Noxious: Dom., Ont., Man., N.W.)

Introduced. Annual, smooth, 2 to 4 feet high, growing in erect tufts.
Plant closely resembling in general appearance some varieties of cultivated
oats. Panicle loose and open, spreading in all directions, 6 to 12 inches long.
The empty glumes or outer pair of scales, which enclose the 2 to 3-flowered
spikelets, green, herbaceous and thin, as in the cultivated oats, both of aboxit
the same length. The flowering glumes or husks of the seeds [Plate 56, fig.
80 — natural size and enlarged twice] hard and horny, bearing many short
stiff bristles particularly about the base, rounded on the back, tapering to a
slender papery divided tip, 7-nerved, the nerves roughened with minute
teeth, and the central one running out from the middle of the husk into
a stiff twisted bristle-like awn, nearly an inch long, which in the ripe seeds
is bent at a right angle a little below the middle. The 2 or 3 florets or oats
in a spikelet vary much in size and colour, the lowest one being much larger
than the upper ones.

There are two varieties of the "Wild Oat found as grain-field weeds in
Canada. The type of the species, Avena fatua, L., which has rather larger,
darker brown and much more bristly oats, is found in the eastern provinces ;
and the variety glabrata, with smaller, smoother, gray or olive-brown oats,
with comparatively heavier kernels, is the prevailing form in the West.
The identification of the variety glabrata was kindly made for me by Prof.
C. V. Piper, of Washington, D.C. The White Wild Oats sometimes found
are merely albinoes of these two varieties and do not always come true from
seed. Carefully selected white oats under cultivation produced many dark-
seeded plants and dark seeds gave several white oats. Both the eastern and
western Wild Oats may nearly always be distinguished from cultivated oats
by their earliness and the marked irregularity of ripening their seeds, the top
oats frequently being ripe and shelling out long before the florets at the
bottom of the panicle are ripe. Wild Oats contain smaller kernels, have al-
ways awns and some bristles at the base. The slanting horse-shoe shaped
scar at the base of the seed is densely bristly, although these bristles are
easily broken off, as also, with less frequency, is the scar itself, sometimes
making the certain identification of some seeds difficult when found among
threshed grain . The plate igiven herewith of the variety glabrata was drawn
by Mr. Criddle from a plant found in Manitoba. When the par ides first
appear from the sheaths, they are nmch more contracted in form.

Wild Oats may be found in flower by the end of June, and some seeds
are ripe by the middle of July.

Propagation : By seeds only. Plants cut off when in flower throw up
secondary flowering stems very quickly.

Occurrence : In all parts of the country, the seeds being widely dis-
tributed with all kinds of cereal grains and also carried from farm to farm
in imperfectly cleaned threshing machines.

• 90

Plate 43

WILD OATS

(Avena fal-ua. /.«"• glabraha. /•<•"•/•//

Injury : Wild Oat plants are hardier and able to withstand injury
much better than the cultivated varieties of oats. The seeds, unlike thoso
of the latter, can remain in the soil in a vital condition not only over our
severest winters, but for several years. On account of their irregular and
early ripening, many seeds ripen and shell out before the grain crops in which
they are growing are ready to cut. Thus the land becomes infested with the
seeds, which continue to appear in succeeding crops for many years.

Remedy : Sow clean seed grain. Wild Oats, if in the land, must be
grown out of it by adopting some method by which the seeds are made to
germinate and the young plants are destroyed before they have ripened their
seeds. In the East, a short rotation, with seeding down for hay and pasture
at regular intervals, should be adopted. In the West, where grain is grown
almost to the exclusion of all other crops, the land should be cultivated di-
rectly after harvest to cover up seeds on the surface. Many of these will
germinate in autumn and will be killed by the winter cold. Early the next
spring more seeds will germinate ; these must be cultivated down as soon as
theTe is a good growth ; plough about 1st June and sow early oats or barley
to be cut for green feed as soon as the heads appear. The land may then be
ploughed and cultivated twice or as often as necessary to kill the weeds before
winter, or a second cutting of green feed may be taken off before ploughing
down the stubble. Instead of growing a green feed crop, some farmers sow
early barley and leave for seed ; but care must be taken that no Wild Oats
ripen. If plenty of cattle are available, the Wild Oats may be kept fed off
as they come up on stubble land, and seeding down will help very much to
keep them in check.

91

PLATE 49.

SWEET GRASS, Hierochloa borealis, R. & S.

Other English names : Indian Hay, Vanilla Grass, Seneca Grass, Holy
Grass.

Other Latin names : Holcus odoratus, L. ; Hierochloe borealis, Roeni.
and Schultes; Savastana odoratcf (L.) Scribn.

Native. Perennial, deep-rooted, with wide-spreading white rootstocks
which produce in summer many barren shoots with long flat shining leaves
over a foot in length, of a deep green. Flowering stems thrown up very
early in spring, the, first flowers opening when the stems are only a few
inches out of the ground. Panicle pyramidal, 1 to 2 inches high, loose dur-
ing flowering, with spreading branches, contracting as the seeds ripen, when
the stems are 12 to 18 inches high ; the sheath with its short blade below the
middle. Spikelets drooping, with shining papery outer glumes which are
yellowish, tinged with purple, 1-seeded but 3-flowered, two male flowers
with 3 stamens between downy ciliate-margined scales, and one fertile
flower inside 2 smooth scales with 2 anthers and. a double plumose pistil.
When the seeds are ripe, the whole panicle becomes dark golden l:rown.
Seeds [Plate 54, fig. 39 — natural size and enlarged 8 times] enclosed in
the inner scales, small, ^ of an inch, oblong. Whole plant sweetly aro-
matic, with the fragrant principle of the Tonka bean and Sweet Clover
(Coumarin).

Time of Flowering : April to May. Fruit ripe by the beginning of
June.

Propagation : By seeds and running rootstocks.

Occurrence : Rare in the eastern provinces and growing in damp places
by streams and rivers. In the West, in all kinds of soil, extremely abundant
and very difficult to eradicate.

Injury : This early ripening and deep-rooted grass is very persistent
in the rich lands of the West, where it smothers out all kinds of crops.

Remedy: Mow and burn before summer-fallowing so as to avoid
ploughing down ripe seeds. Ploughing for summer-fallows must be deep.
Good results have been secured in Manitoba by ploughing in spring when the
Sweet Grass is in flower and then seeding down heavily at once.

This grass is often incorrectly spoken of in the West as "Quack" or
"Couch Grass," quite a different grass, which flowers at the end of June,
roots near the surface of the soil, and can be killed by shallow ploughing
followed by frequent cultivation. Sweet Grass flowers in April, and shallow
ploughing merely stimulates its growth.

92

Plate49

SWEET GRASS

(Hierochloa bore a I is, /?*.«.)

Plate 50

GREEN FOXTAIL

ISel~aria viridis . //•

PLATE 50.

GREEN FOXTAIL, Setatia oiriJis, Beauv.

Other English, name: Pigeon Grass.

Other Latin names: Chcctochloa viridis (L) Scribn. ; Ixophoru* viridis
(L) Nash ; Chamcer aphis viridis, Porter.

Introduced. Annual. Stems several, erect, simple or branched from
below, 1 to 2 feet high, leafy. Panicle condensed into a cylindrical com-
pound spike. Spikelets single-flowered, or with a perfect flower and a
neutral flower beside it, inside 3 empty glumes or scales, awnless, but with
a cluster of 3 to 6 persistent green bristles below the florets on the short
peduncle. The tough hard husk of the seed is about T\ of an inch
long, oval, with the glume or outer scale rounded and folded over tb<> Lughly
polished rounded edges of the pale or inner scale, which is flattened in the
middle. Both scales of the husk are roughened crosswise with narrow ridges.
The colour is very variable, according to the degree of ripeness — yellow, gray,
brown or purplish, the darker seeds mottled with darker spots. The seed
itself is greenish white, convex on the outer germ-bearing face and flattened
on the inner face. [Plate 54, fig. 40 — natural size and enlarged 8 times.]

Time of Flowering: June to September; seeds ripe by July.
Propagation : By seeds.

Occurrence : Abundant in Eastern Canada ; as yet only occasional in
the West.

Injury : The seeds are one of the commonest impurities in clover and
grass seeds.

Remedy : A common and abundant weed in all crops on land not worked
under a short rotation. Easily killed when young by smothering with earth
in the cultivation of hoed crops. Late plants in hoed crops, after cultiva-
tion stops, should be pulled by hand.

YELLOW FOXTAIL, Setaria glauca, Beauv. Another grass of the same
family and very similar to the above is the Yellow Foxtail. The branches,
however, are more decumbent and spreading, the whole plant rather larger
and more succulent, the spikes less compound and slenderer, with larger
seeds J inch, and the bristles are distinctly yellow. The seeds are almost
equally common with those of the Green Foxtail in commercial seeds.

93

PLATE 51.

COMMON DARNEL, Lolium temulentum, L.

Other English names : Poison Darnel, White Darnel, Ivray, Poison
Hye-grass, Bearded Darnel.

Other Latin names: Lolium arvense, With.; Lolium temulentum, L.,
var. a genuinum, Sm. ; Lolium temulentum, L., var. b arvense, Sm.

Introduced. Annual, smooth. Stems 2 to 4 feet hi<?h, t-imple, leafy.
Flowers in a spike 6 to 10 inches long; somewhat resembling that of Couch
Grass, but having the edges of the spikelets, instead of the broadsides as in
Couch, resting against the stalk; spikelets 3 to 7-flowered, solitary, sessile
and alternate, with their edges fitting tightly into grooves on either side of
the stalk ; each spikelet in the axil of a long rigid strongly nerved, persistent
glume or empty scale, which merely equals or is much longer than the spike-
lets. Leaves 6 to 10 inches long by £ inch wide, rough above. Seeds swol-
len, nearly straight on the outer face, much swollen on the inner, with a deep
wide groove, the inner scale of the husk with a wing-like keel on each side,
minutely bristly on the edges, but not coarsely bristly ciliate as in Chess,
Ltromus seealinus; outer scale hard and flinty as in the chaff of wheat, and
either with a long awn in the variety genuinum, which is the more widely dis-
tributed form of this weed in- Canada, or entirely without awn in the variety
arvense, which has recently appeared in great abundance at certain points
in the Red River Valley in Manitoba, where the seed was spoken of as
"False Barley" when first detected. The true seed after the husks have been
removed is greenish brown often tinged with deep purple.

Time of Flowering: July; seeds ripe August.
Propagation : By seed.

Occurrence : Occasional, generally in wet land ; abundant recently in
parts of the Red River valley, Manitoba.

Injury : The husks cover the seed very tightly, the inner scale being
adherent to it ; in that condition the seeds are very much of the same size
as small grains of wheat; they are therefore very difficult to separate from
that grain.

The seeds of Darnel are widely reputed to be poisonous ; but there seems
to be some doubt upon the subject. In "The True Grasses," by Eduard
Hackel, as translated by Prof. F. L. Scribner and Effie A. Southworth,
is the following: "A weed among grain crops; troublesome in wet years.
The grain contains a narcotic principle (Loliin) soluble in ether, which
causes eruptions, trembling and confusion of sight in man and flesh-eatin;?
animals, and very strongly in rabbits; but it does not affect swine, horned
cattle or ducks."

Prof. E. M. Freeman, of the University of Minnesota, has made some
important investigations into the question of the origin of darnel poisoning,
and in commenting on the' discovery by P. Guerin, of Paris, France, of a
fungus in the seeds of Darnel, to which he attributed the poisonous effects,
says as follows under date April 3rd, 1906 : "In California Darnel is ex-
ceedingly abundant, and is known as Chess or Cheat. It sometimes

94

Plate 51

COMMON DARNEL

(Lolium temulentum /..)

in wet situations or poorly drained regions, constitutes a very considerable
portion of the grain." "From the literature, which I have examined some-
what extensively, I learn that the concensus of opinion in Europe is that
the plant is poisonous. I have shown, however, [Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc.
Lond. Sec. B. Vol. 196, pp. 1-27, 1903.] that there are two races of the
plant, one with a fungus, and the other without a fungus, and there is ap-
parently no transference of the fungus from one race to the other. If the
seeds are really poisonous, it may be that those with the fungus are poison-
ous, while those without fungus are not. I have attempted recently to de-
termine this, but have failed to get any conclusive results." "It is well
known that some Europeans doubt the toxic action of these grains,
and it is worthy of note that Lolium temulentum very commonly car-
ries ergots. Robert and other European investigators ascribe the toxic
effects chiefly to the presence of ergot. I have personally attempted also to
obtain evidence of toxicity by feeding the seeds with the fungus and without
the fungus to rabbits, mice and guinea pigs, with absolutely no effect. As
far then as my own experience is concerned, I have been unable to prove the
toxicity of the Darnel ; but I must admit that these experiments have not been
at all extensive and are undoubtedly insufficient to serve as a basis for far-
reaching conclusions. I have recently obtained information from Califor-
nia, which tends to show, however, that the plant in that region is not at
all feared. In fact, I have letters from men interested in the milling of
wheat in California who inform me that the grain is sometimes intention-
ally mixed with barley for feed, and I can get absolutely no record of any
toxic action of the plant from California. As I have stated above, Darnel
is exceedingly common in that State."

The above gives, I believe, a summary of this subject up to the present
time.

Remedy: Sow clean seed. Should Darnel increase very much, doubtless
some improvement will be made in fanning mills by means of which the
seed will be separated from the grain, as has recently been done in the case
of Wild Oats.

PLATE 52.
ERGOT ON COUCH, RYE AND TIMOTHY.

Claviceps purpurea (Fr.) Tul., and other species. #

(Noxious : Dom.)

There are often found in certain seasons among the grains of rye, rarely
among those of wheat, and abundantly among the seeds of some grasses,
dark-coloured solid bodies of characteristic form in each species of grain or
seed. These are of a doughy consistency, and when broken are purplish white
inside. They are the storage organs or resting stage of a parasitic fungus
or perhaps the several species of fungi belonging to the genus Claviceps.
Each of these solid bodies -is called a sclerotium (plural sclerotia) derived
from a Greek word skleeros, hard or dry, in allusion to the nature of these
bodies. They are practically masses of the vegetative system or "spawn" of
the fungus in a resting condition, but capable of growth in spring when
placed under favourable conditions of warmth and moisture, such as they
get when sown with crop seed or when lying on the ground at the bases of
the stems on which they were formed the previous summer. At the proper time
in spring very small toadstool-like bodies on violet stalks with round orange-
coloured heads about the size of mustard seeds, are produced from the sclero-
tia lying on the ground, which develop enormous numbers of microscopically
small spores (organs analogous to the seeds of higher plants). These are pro-
duced at the time that grasses and grains are in flower. The minute spores,
carried by currents of air or by insects, lodge in the flowers of the grasses
and begin to grow; in a short time they completely destroy the seed and
form from them the sclerotia. These vary in shape according to the plant
they attack. In rye and Couch Grass they are long and horn-like, over 1 inch
in length, frequently much larger than shown in our figure of Couch Grass.
In wheat and Wild Rice they are shorter and thicker ; in timothy and June
Grass very small, i of an inch long, slender and almost black. During the
summer, summer spores are formed on these horns, and also at the same time
a sugary secretion very attractive to insects which, coming to the infested
plants, carry off on their bodies many of the summer spores to the flowering
heads of other grasses they visit, and in that way spread the infection. Late
in summer the production of summer spores stops, and the sclerotia or stor-
age organs begin to store up a special kind of starch found only in fungi
and known as fungus starch, as well as oils to serve as food for the growth
of the fruiting organs to be sent out the following spring ; they then harden
up, turn dark purple in colour and fall to the ground or are carried with the
grain or hay.

The sclerotia are common on a great many grasses and particularly on
rye, wheat, barley and Wild Eice, as well as on Western Couch Grass and
other prairie grasses cut for hay. They all contain an alkaloid and other
violent poisons. Some are used in medicine under the name of "Ergot of
Rye." Bread made from flour containing ergot may cause a serious disease
known as ergotism in those that eat it ; and animals which feed on grain
or hay containing ergot, may also be severely poisoned, as is sometimes the
case on our western plains. One well-known result of cattle eating ergotised
hay is abortion.

96

Plate 52

ff.C.

COUCH OR QUACK GRASS. RYE AND TIMOTHY

Attacked by Erg of

THE

| UNIVERSITY )

Hay containing much ergot should not be fed. In years of scarcity when
such hay must be used, it should be well threshed before feeding, to dis-
lodge the poisonous sclerotia. Grain containing ergot should be thoroughly
screened before use and the sclerotia destroyed. Seed grain from an ergot-
ised crop should not be used if any other grain can be procured, and all
grain should be treated with formalin or bluestone before sowing as a precau-
tion against ergot and smut.

Many writers have treated of Ergot, as Berkeley, Cooke, Worthington
Smith, Kerner & Oliver, Bessey, Halsted and many others. One of the best
and most recent articles of a popular but scientific nature is by Prof. E. M.
Freeman in his excellent "Minnesota Plant Diseases" (1905). Ergot and Er-
gotism are also treated of in all the leading encyclopaedias.

(7) 97

Plate 53

It

II

01

l.l

'/'/If/t/K't V/j -/^///'>>

f

V

« w «

///y/ P i>/'tts/t# -AtWttfW

f JT~ M + / -5

yyvw/ ./sftwi/ • rf/wss/'/f •/>

<?>

f t.f

t

• t

frf

til

. 1/tt.i/^l-t/

I

f l t

W/u/r

** t

.

OF THE

I UNIVERSITY

Plate 54

I

7V,,,,,

fi

"if

' f tr

/-/*•//

II

S

_J

'('„/,„/,

C/, »/</<->'

Plate 55

///,//, .

M

I

f

so

-

V

9:9

-•

u

•

. //j«ti

( UNI

r ~

OF

Plate 56

I

|

1-3

Wt

INDEX.

PLATE

AehUlea Millefolium ..................

Aconitum .................................

Agropyrum glaucum, var. ocoi-
dentale .............................

repens ............................... 46

Agrostemma Githago ................

Alsine media ...........................

AMARANTACExE ...........................

Amaranth, Spreading ...............

Amarantiit albus .......................

blitoides ................................

retroflexus .......................... 42

Ambrosia art emisicef olio. ......... 24

psilostachya ...........................

trifida ................................ 23

Anemone, Crocus .......................

Pennsylvanian ........................

White ....................................

Anemone canadensis ..................

patens, var. Nuttalliana .........

Annuals ....................................

Anogra pattida, var. leptophylla 19
Antennaria ...............................

Anthemis Cotula .................... 25

Apargia autumnalis ..................

Arctium Zappa ........................

Zappa, var. minus ............... 27

minus ....................................

Artemisia .................................

biennis ..................................

frigida ..................................

Ludoviciana ..........................

Artichoke. Wild ........................

Aster tribe ..............................

Asters .......................................

August Flower ...........................

A vena fatva .............................

fatua, var. ijlabrata ............ 48

fatua, var. glabrescens ............

strigosa .................................

Axyris amarantoides ............... 41

Bardane ...................................

Barley, Wild ...........................

Bartsia, Red ............................

Bartsia Odontites ......................

Baughlan .................................

Bean, Golden ............................

Beaver Poison ...........................

Biennials ..................................

Bindweed, Black ......................

Field ................................. 37

Great

PAGE

54
17

87
87
36
37

80

81
80
81
80
52
52
51
48

17

17
17
17
17
8
44
48
53.
62
56
66
56
48
48
48
48
48
47
47
62
90
90
90
90
79

56
88
73
73
57
41
46
9

83
72
71

Hedge .................................... 71

Upright .................................

Bitter-weed .............................. 51

Black-eyed Susan ..................... 55

Blue Devil .............................. 68

Blue-thistle ............................... 68

Blueweed ............................... 35 68

BORAGE FAMILY ......................... 67

BORRAGINACE.E .......................... 67

Botanical terms explained ......... 14

Brassica campestiis ...................

juncea ..................................

nigra ....................................

orientalis ..............................

perjoliata ..............................

Sinapistrum ........................ 5

Bromus secalinus .....................

Buckhorn .................................

Buckwheat, Wild .................. 43

BUCKWHEAT FAMILY ..................

Bugloss, Viper's ........................

Bur, Blue .............................. 36

Common .................................

Sheep ....................................

Burdock, Common ....................

Lesser ................................ 27

Bursa pastoris .........................

Buttercup, Tall ........................

BUTTERCUP FAMILY .....................

Cabbage, Hare's-ear
Cadluck .......... r

"Cadluck"'

Camelina macrocarpa
microcarpa

99

6
Campion, Bladder .................. 16

White .............................. -. ...

CAPER FAMILY ..........................

CAPPARIDACE^E ...........................

dnpsella Bursa-pastoris .......... 8

Caraway ..................................

Carduus arvensis ......................

Carrot, Wild ...........................

C'arum, Carui ...........................

CARYOPHYLLACE^E .......................

Catnep ....................................

Catchfly, Nieht-flowering ....... 12

Centaurea nigra ......................

Cerastium arvense ................. ..

vulgatum ..............................

rhcrtocJiJoi viridis ....................

m>am(Frnr)his riridis .................

Chamomile, Dog's .....................

Charlock ....... '. ..........................

CHENOPODIACE.E .........................

Chenopodium album ............... 40

hybridum ...............................

Chess ................ . ......................

Chickweed ................................

Common ............................. 15

Field ....................................

Mouse-ear .............................

Chickweeds ................................

Chicory ................................. 30

Wild ....................................

PmroRv FAMILY .......................

Chinaman's Greens ..................

Chri/.mnthemum Leucanthemum 26
Chrysocoma graminifolia ...........

CICHOHIACE/E .............................

richorium Intybus .................. SO

Cicuta Douglasii ........................

maculata ............................ 20

occidentalis .......

PAGE

24

20
20
23
86
76
83
82
68
70
67
70
56
66
27
17
17

20
23
24
25
25
25
39
35
18
18
27
46
59
45
45
32
74
34
48
38
37
93
93
53
23
39
78
78
86
37
37
38
37
82
61
61
47
80
55
49
47
61
46
46
46

PLATE PAGE

46
46
43
29

vagans ..................................

virosa, var. inaculata ............

Ciuqueloil, Upright ..................

Cirmuni, arvense ........................

Classification ot weeds .............

Cluviceps ..................................

parpurea ............................ 52

Clean seed .................................

Uleome integrifotia ...................

Clotbur ....................................

Clover, Rabbit's-foot ..................

Clovers, Sweet ...........................

Cnicus arcensis ..................... 29

arvensis, rar. setosus ...............

lunceolatus ............................

undulatus .............................

Cockle, China ..................... . .....

Corn .....................................

Cow ................................... 11

Purple ............................... 14

Sticky ..................................

White ................................. 13

Cockles ....................................

COMPOSITE ...............................

Cone-flower, Black-eyed ..............

Conringia orientals ............... 2

CONVOLVULACE.S: ........................

Convolvulus sepium, var. ameri-
canus .................................

spithamcfvs ..................... ......

Corydalis aurea ........................

Couch Grass ......................... 46

"Couch Grass " ........................

Cowbane ..................................

Spotted .............................. 20

Cow-bell ...................................

Cowherb ...................................

Cress, Cow ...............................

Crowfoot, Creeping ...................

Cursed ..................................

Seaside .................................

Crownweed ...............................

CRUCIFER.E ...............................

Cucubalus Sehen .............. . ........

Cuscuta epithymum ..................

racemosa, var. chiliana .........

trijolii ..................................

CUSCUTACE.S ..............................

Cynoglossum officinale ............. ,.

Daisy, Ox-eye ..................... ... 26

"Ox-eye" ..............................

White ....................................

Yellow ..................................

Dandelion, Common ..................

Fall ................................... 31

Red-seeded ............................

Darnel, Bearded ........... .-. ..........

Common ............................. 51

Poison ...................................

White ....................................

Delphinium ..............................

Dock, Curled ........................ 44

Sour .....................................

Yellow ...................................

Docks .......................................

Dodder, Alfalfa ........................

Doddi-rs ....................................

Dog-fennel ................................

Doorweed .................................

Dracocephalum parviflorum
Dragonhead

PLATE PAGE

96

13
Ib
56
42
42
59
60
60
60
33
36
33
36
34
35
32
47
26
20
71

71
71
17
87
92
46
46
39
33
32
17
17
17
51
• 17
39
71
71
71
71
67

55
55
55
55
62
62
62
04
94
94
94
17
84
84
84
82
71
71
53
82

Echinospermum Lappula ......... 36 70

Echium vulgar e ..................... 35 b8

Epilobium adenocaulon .............. 43

angustijolium .................... • ••• 43

Ergot on Couch, Rye and

Timothy ........................... 52 96

Erigeron annuus ...................... 48

canadensis ............................ 48

strigosus ................................

Erysimum cheiranthoides ........ 1

orientate ................................

Euphorbia Helioscopia ...............

Euphrasia latijolia ...................

Euthamia graminifolia ............... 49

Evening-primrose, Common ........ 43

White ... .............................. 19 44

EVENING-PRIMROSE FAMILY ......... 43

Everlasting Flowers .................. 48

Extermination of weeds ........... 9

Eye-bright, Glandular ............... 73

"False Barley"

51

False-flax

. 6 25

Small-seeded

25

False-tansy

48

Fat-hen

. ... 78

FIGWORT FAMILY

73

Fireweed, Great

43

Fireweeds

43

Fleabane, Daisy

48

Rough Daisy

48

Fleabanes

48

Foxtail, Green

,. 50 93

Yellow

93

"Fox-tail"

88

French Weed

. ... 28,30

Fruit, botanical meaning of .

15

FVMARIACE*

17

Fumitorv, Golden

17

FUMITORY FAMILY

17

Glycyrrhiza lepidoia

42

Gnaphalium

48

Gold of Pleasure

25

Goldenrod, Bushy

49

Canada

49

Fragrant

49

Narrow-leaved

.. 21 49

Smooth

49

Tall Hairv

49

Goosefoot, Maple-leaved

78

White

78

GOOSEFOOT FAMILY

77

GRAMINE*

86

GRASS FAMILY

86

Grindelia sfjuarrosa

47

Cromwell, Field

68

Groundsel, Common

58

Stinking

58

G inn weed

47

Hardback

43

Harrows and weeders

12

Hawkbit, Autumnal

62

Hawkweed, Branching

63

Mouse-ear

64

Orange

.. 32 63

100

Heiianthus doionicoid.es

Maximiliani

ngidus
Hemlock, Water

Oregon

Purple-stemmed

Wyoming
Herrick
llieruciuln auiuntiucum

du.du.ntliu.rn

32

I'ilosella, var. Peleterianum. ...

praialtum ..............................

Hierochloa. borealis ................ 49

Hierocldoe borealis .....................

Hogweed ..................................

Holcus odoratus .........................

Holy Grass ...............................

Hordeum jubatum ............... 47

Horseweed ................................

Hound's-tongue .........................

Indian Hay

Iva axillaris

xanthiifolia

Ivray

Ixophorus viridis

Kale, Field .

"Kale"

King Devil

Kingweed

Klinkweed

Knapweed

Knotweeds

22

LABIATE

Lactuca pulchella 33

Scariola

virosa

Lady's-thumb

Lamb's-quarters 40

Lappa major

minor

offi.cina.lis

Lappula Lappula

Larkspur

LEGUMINOS^E

Leontodon autumnale 31

Lepidium apetalum 10

campestre

intermedium

virginicum

Lettuce, Blue 33

Large-flowered Blue

Prickly

Showy

Leucanthemum vulgare

Linaria vulgaris •

Liquorice, Wild

Lithospermum arvense

Loco Weeds

Lolium arvense

temulentum 61

temulentum, var. a genuinum ...

temulentum, ver. ft. arvense

Lychnis, Evening

Lychnis albn 13

dioica

Githagn 14

i-AUJi

48
4«
48
46
46
46
46
23
63
63
64
64
64
92
92
52
92
92
88
48
67

92
50
50
94
93

23
24
64
51
20
48
82

73
65
65
65
82
78
56
56
56
70
17
41
62
31
32
31
31
65
65
65
65
55
73
42
68
41
94
94
94
94
35
35
35
36

prutensis .
vespertina

Marsh-elder, Small-flowered

Jlaruta (Jotula

Matricaria inodora

Mayweed

Scentless

Stinking 25

Medicago denticulata

maculata

Medick. Spotted

Toothed

Melandrium noctiflorum

Melilotus alba

officinalis

Milfoil

Mint, Hairy

MINT FAMILY

Monkshood

Morning-glory, Small-flowered

MORNING-GLOKY FAMILY

Mulgedium acuminatum

pulchellum

Musquash Root

Mustard, Ball 7

Cut-leaved Tansy

Gray Tansy

Green Tansy 3

Hare's-ear 2

Indian

Ontario

Treacle

Tumbling 4

Wild 5

"Wild"

Wormseed 1

MUSTARD FAMILY

3[yaorum paniculatum

sativum

Myoiotis Lappula

Names of weeds

Nepeta Cataria

Neslia paniculata 7

Noxious, weeds proclaimed as

Oats, Wild

CEnothera albicaulis

biennis

Nuttallii

ONAGKACE^E

Oxytropis

48

101

Paint-brush

Devil's

PARSLEY FAMILY

Parsnip, Poison

Water

Wild

PEA FAMILY

Penny-cress

Peppergrass 10

Field

Perennials

Persicaries

Persicary, Dock-leaved

Glandular

Swamp

Pickpurse

PAGE
35
36

50
53
53
53
53
53
42
42
42
42
34
42
42
54
74
73
17
72
71
65
65
46
26

s

2i

21
20
24
23
19
22
23
24
19
17
27
26
70

5, 7
74
26
16

90
44
43
44
43
41

63
63
45
46
46
45
41
28
31
32
9
82
82
82
82
40

PLATE PAGE

Pigeon Grass 93

1'igeon Weed 08

Pigweed, Kedroot 42 80

Rough SO

Russian 41 79

PIGWEED FAMILY

PINK FAMILY 32

PLANTAGINACE^B 74

Plantago aristata 77

lanceolata 39 76

major 38 75

media 76

Rugellii 75

Plantain, Bird-seed

Bracted

Broad-leaf 75

Door-yard 75

English 76

Greater

Hoary 76

Pale 75

POLYGONACE* 82

Polygonum

aviculare

Convolvulus ,

lapathifolium

Muhlenberuii

pennsylvnnicum

Persicaria 82

Portulaca, Wild 41

Portulaca oleracea 41

Potentilla Anserina 43

monspeliensis 43

norvegica 43

Poverty Weed 22 50

Purslane 18 41

Pusley 41

Quack Grass : 46 87

"Quack" : 32

Quitch 87

Rabbit-ear 20

Radish, Wild

Ragweed, Common 24 52

False 50

Great 23 51

Perennial 52

Smaller 52

Tall 51

RAGWEED FAMILY 48

Ragwort, Common 28 57

Tansy 57

RANUNCULACE^E . 1~

"Ranunculus acris

Cymbalaria

repens 17

sceleratus 17

Rape, Bird

German

Raphanus Raphanistrum 24

Rod-root 68

Ribgrasa 39 76

Ribwort 76

RIBWORT FAMILY 74

Rosa acieularis, var. Bourgeau-

iana 42

arkansana 42

pratinr.ola 42

ROSACES . 42

PLATE PAGE

Rose, Prairie ............................. 42

ROSE FAMILY ........................... 42

Rotation of crops, short ........... 11, 16

Itudbeckia hirta

Rumex .....................................

Acetosella ........................... 45

crispus .............................. 44

Rye-grass, Poison .....................

Sage brushes ............................

Sage, Lesser Pasture ................

Pasture .................................

Sweet ....................................

Sandweed .................................

Saponaria Vuecaria ..................

Savastana odorata .....................

SCHOPHULARIACE.*; .......................

Scutch ......................................

Seed, clean ..............................

Seeding down ...........................

Seeds of weeds .........................

Seneca Grass ...........................

Senecio Jacobcca ..................... 28

riscosus ................................ ".

vulgaris .................................

Setaria glauca ..........................

viridis ................................ 50

Shepherd's-purse .................... 8

Silent Cucubalus ........................

inflata ................................ 36

nociiflora ............................ 12

pratensit ...............................

vulgaris .................................

Silverweed ................................

Ftinapit arvensis ........................

Risymbrium, Tall ......................

Sisymbrium altissimum ........... 4

incisum, var. Hartwcrjianum ....

incisum, var. filipes .......... 3

pannonicum ...........................

Skunk Gras.9 ...........................

Skunk-tail Grass ......................

Short-awned ...........................

Smnrtweeds ..............................

Rnlidarto canadensis ....................

lanceolata ........................... 21

rufloxrt. ...................................

serotina ................................

Sonchus arvensis ..................... 34

a»per .....................................

oleraceus ................................

pulchellus ..............................

Sophia incisa ............... ". ............

Sorrel, Field .............................

Rpd .......................................

Sheep ................................. 45

Sour-grass ................................

Sowthistle, Common ..................

Corn ................ . ....................

Creeping ...............................

Field .....................................

Perennial ........................... 34

Spiny ....................................

Spear Grass ..............................

Spergula arvensis .................. 17

Spider-flower, Entire-leaved ......

SPINACH FAMILY ........................

Spircea tomentosa .

55
82
85
84
94

48
48
48
48
40
33
92

73

87
13
12
13
92
57
58
58
93
93
27
39
39
34
35
34
43
23
22
22
21
21
22
22
88
88
89
82
49
49
49
49
fi6
67
67
65
?1
85
85
P5
85
67
66
66
66
66
67
86
40
18
77
43

102

PLATB PAGE

Spraying for destruction of Wild

Mustard 23

Spurge, Sun <4

Spurrey 17 40

Corn 40

Squirrel-tail Grass b8

St. James's-wort 57

Stachys palustris 74

Staggerwort 57

Stetlaria graminea 37

media 15 37

Stickseed 70

Stinking Willie 57

Stinkweed 9 28

Stipa spartea 86

Stitchwort, Grass-leaved 37

Lesser 37

Succory, Wild 61

Summer fallowing 11

Sunflower, Black-headed 48

Many-flowered Prairie 48

Sunflowers, Wild 48

SUNFLOWER FAMILY 47

Sweet Grass 49 92

Tanacetum vulgare 58

Tansy, Common 58

Taraxacum erythrospermum 62

officinale 62

Tare, Wild 41

Thermopsis 41

Thistle. Bull PO

Canada 29 59

Creeping 59

Field 59

Prairie 60

Soft Field 59

Rnwir 59

Thistle. Western Bull 60

'•Thistle. Russian" 77

PLATE PAGE

Thlaspi arvense 9

Bursa-pastoris

Tickle Grass

Toad Flax

Trifolium arvense

Triticum repens

Tumble Weed

Twitch .

UMBELLIFEK^E

Vaccaria Vaccaria 11

vulgaris

Vanilla Grass

VERBENA FAMILY

VERBENACE.E

Veronica

Vervain, Blue

Vetch, Purple Tufted

Vicia angustifolia

Cracca

Weed, what is a

Weeds, losses due to

names of

how they spread

classification of

extermination of

not natural to soil

Weeders and harrows

Wheat-thief

White Bottle

White Weed

Willow herbs

Wormwood, Roman

Wormwoods

Yarrow

Yellow-weed. (Narrow - leaved

Yellow - we°d (Narrow - leaved

Goldenrod)

28
27
88
73
42
87
80
87

45

33
33
92
73
73
73
73
42
41
42

6
6

5, 7

8

8

9

13

12

68

39

55

43

52

48

54

49

.103

W

OVERDue. ...00 ON THE

YE 08881:

.. w ^e«afl