. A manual of weeds : with descriptions of all the most pernicious and troublesome plants in the United States and Canada, their habits of growth and distribution, with methods of control . Weeds. 118 CHENOPODIACEAE (GOOSEFOOT FAMILY) The seedlings are innocent-looking, grass-like shoots, divided into two blades, appearing in April, May, and June. The young stalks are tender and succulent, the young leaves an inch or two long with young branchlets in their axils; at this stage of growth the plant is good forage which cattle and sheep eat greedily. But with the approach of summer weather the pl
. A manual of weeds : with descriptions of all the most pernicious and troublesome plants in the United States and Canada, their habits of growth and distribution, with methods of control . Weeds. 118 CHENOPODIACEAE (GOOSEFOOT FAMILY) The seedlings are innocent-looking, grass-like shoots, divided into two blades, appearing in April, May, and June. The young stalks are tender and succulent, the young leaves an inch or two long with young branchlets in their axils; at this stage of growth the plant is good forage which cattle and sheep eat greedily. But with the approach of summer weather the plants change their character: the stem becomes hard and woody, two to three feet high, ridged, and streaked with red lines, diffusely branched and spreading broadly, crowding to death all lesser growth. The first leaves fall away; those of later growth are not more than a half-inch long, mere awl-like spines slightly broadened at base and having on each side a sharp pointed bract which is somewhat shorter. (Fig. 72.) Flowers axillary, sessile, and usually solitary, very small, green- ish white or often pink; calyx five-parted, with five stamens and two styles; when mature the calyx-lobes are horizontally winged on the back, forming a papery margin which often helps the seed to be carried before the wind, in- dependent of the tumbling of the parent plant. Seed very small, reddish in color, irregular in shape but somewhat like a flattened top, held in place by fine tufts of coiled hair at the base of the persistent calyx, so that only the ripest will fall when the plant is broken from its hold on the soil and sent tumbling before the wind; but they continue to ripen and shake loose all winter as the weeds are trundled about. According to the size attained, a thrifty plant may bear ten thou- sand to a hundred thousand seeds, which retain their vitality in the soil for several Fig. 72. — Russian Thistle (Salsola Kali, var. tenufolia). X Please note that these images
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectweeds, bookyear1919
