WEEDS— PECULIARITIES AND DISTRIBUTION 435 



pratense) and Annual Meadow grass (Poa annua) all pass as 

 Couch and Twitch. In the West Country apparently the name 

 is reserved for the Triticum. 



Coltsfoot and Field Horsetail. — The Coltsfoot (Tnssilago 

 Farfard) throws up flowering branches in the early spring as 

 simple stalks, each bearing numerous small scale-like leaves 

 and supporting a flower-head much like a small Dandelion ; 

 after the flowers have died down, very large leaves appear 

 (out of all proportion to the size of the blossom) which are 

 pale green in colour on the upper side and silvery white 

 underneath. The Horsetail {Equisetum arvense) is easily recog- 

 nised by its distinctive curiously jointed stems bearing at 

 intervals whorls of jointed branches. The plant has no flowers 

 in the ordinary sense of the word but produces instead a 

 fructification consisting of a spike composed of several whorls 

 of scale-like structures each of which bears cases filled with 

 minute spores. The fruiting stems appear in the early spring 

 and die down before the barren ones put in an appearance. 

 The Coltsfoot and Horsetail are frequently found in association 

 but investigation shows that there is really no connection 

 between the two. Both species occur on all types of soil, 

 whether they be heavy or light, calcareous or non-calcareous, 

 though in Wiltshire the Coltsfoot is more prevalent on clay 

 and they cannot be regarded as indicative or symptomatic. 

 The view is sometimes held that the Horsetail grows where 

 the soil is damp or badly drained but this hardly seems to be 

 borne out by the observations hitherto made. Still whilst the 

 character of the surface soil does not seem to be an influencing 

 factor, it is quite possible that, wherever Coltsfoot and Equi- 

 setum do occur, underground water will always be found 

 accessible to the roots of the plants, which are capable of pene- 

 trating to a considerable depth, being several feet long in some 

 cases. 



Mayweed. — Under the popular term " Mayweed " two distinct 

 genera are included, Matricaria and Anthcmis; of these again 

 there are several species. The plants seem to be very impatient 

 of competition. Wherever these weeds occur, if the crop is at 

 all a heavy one, very little or no Mayweed is to be found in it, 

 although large quantities will occur at the edges of the field, 

 along lines of drainage or wherever there may be a clearing in 

 the crop. Very probably these plants are peculiarly dependent 



