WEEDS OF MAINE. 



A Synopsis of the Principal Weeds found growing in Maine : Arranged according 

 to the Natural System adopted by Gray in his Manual. 



BY FRANK L. SCRIBNER. 



SERIES I. 



Flowering plants, those producing' true flowers — Phcenogamous. 

 Class I. Plants which increase by annual additions to the out- 

 side ; and the embryo furnished with a pair of opposite cotyledons 

 or seed leaves — Dicotyledonous or Exogenous. Sub-class I. Plants 

 with the seeds inclosed in an ovary or pericarp — Angiosijermous. 

 Division I. Plants having the divisions of the corolla separate' — 

 Polypetalous. 



Order 1. CROWFOOTS — RANUNcuLACEiE. A large family, 

 chiefly natives of Europe. They are mostly acrid plants, and 

 some of them, as the Monks-hood, {Aconitwn) are acrid narcotic 

 poisons. 



1. Common Meadow Rue — Thalictrum comuti. Root perennial. Stem three to six 

 feet high, much branched, furrowed, and hollow. Leaves large, ternately-decompound, 

 leaflets roundish, obovate and three lobed. Flowers white, showy, arranged in largo 

 and very compound panicles. 



The meadow rue is a worthless weed, found only in meadows 

 which have become too moist for the growth of any crop worth 

 the harvesting. Proper drainage and cultivation will eradicate 

 it as well as encourage the growth of more valuable plants. 



2. Bristly Ceowfoot — Ranunculus Pcnnsylvanicus. Stem clothed with stiff spread- 

 ing hairs, 2-3 feet high. Leaves ternately parted, the divisions stalked and cleft. 

 Flowers small, yellow. 



A homely native species, with inconspicuous flowers ; growing 

 in wet meadows and along the borders of streams. It is not com- 

 mon enough to be very troublesome or injurious to crops. 



3. Kidnet-leaved Crowfoot — Ranunculus abortivus. Root of thick tufted fibres. 

 Stem smooth, about one foot high, simple or branching. Leaves of the root on long 

 stalks, kidney-shaped, one to two inches in diameter. Flowers small and inconspicuous. 



This species, which is also a native, I have seen quite abundant 

 in moist meadows and fields, especially on a clayey-loam soil ; its 

 presence indicates a want of draining. 



