PINK FAMILY 



CARYOPHYLLACE^E PINK FAMILY 



Agrostemma Githago, L. 



Magenta Corn-campion, Corn-rose, 



Corn-cockle, Crown-of-the-field, 



July-September Corn-mullen, Mullen Pink, 



Corn-pink, Old-Maid's-pink. 



Agrostemma: Greek for a field and a crown in allusion to 



the beauty of the flower. 

 Githago: classical Latin name for the Corn-cockle. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: cornfields and cultivated 

 ground. 



THE PLANT: erect, one foot to two feet high; the stem 

 simple or sparingly branched, clothed throughout with 

 soft, whitish, flattened hairs. 



THE LEAVES: opposite; linear, tending to lanceolate; 

 clothed on both surfaces with soft hairs; tapering to an 

 acute apex; more or less narrowed at the base; stemless; 

 entire. 



THE FLOWERS: on stems three inches to eight inches high; 

 the calyx ovoid ; its five sepals, with ten ribs, much exceed- 

 ing the petals; the five petals overlap, slightly notched 

 on the margin, paler toward the centre and spotted with 

 black. 



THE FRUIT: a capsule, with numerous black poisonous 

 seeds. 



A really beautiful weed, bearing large, wheel-shaped 

 flowers, encircled and out-distanced by the slender, green 

 sepals. 



Although it is an attractive plant to the lay person, it 

 is much disliked by the farmer, for a very little cockle is 

 sufficient to cut the grade of the wheat and the seeds when 

 ground with the wheat are poisonous to poultry. 



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