Tkaciier's Leaflet. 



1203 



Chickweed 



sunshine and soon give way to capsules full of seeds. 

 These seed capsules are the only piece of neat 

 workmanship about the sprawling, shiftless looking 

 plant. One sees at first a little green cone set on a 

 flaring base, but the transverse line dividing base 

 from cap shows plainly. This cap protects the form- 

 ing seeds, but when they have ripened it falls off, 

 leaving the prettiest little urn or vase "jam-full " of 

 tiny, russet brown seeds. These are so small, so 

 nearly the color of the earth, and tumble so easily 

 from the little urns to slip into crannies of the soil, 

 that the weed can hardly be touched without plant- 

 ing hundreds of seeds. Therefore the only way to 

 prevent having a crop of " pusley " next year is to 

 see that no plant is allowed to mature seed this year. Such a thing is possible, 

 but it requires close watching and continuous, careful tillage. 



Some people consider that purslane makes a palatable " dish of greens," but 

 there are many plants so much worthier for this purpose that it should never be 

 given a place in the garden for that use. 



Chickweed, or Starwort (Siellaria media). — The "book-name" of this modest 

 but persistent and hardy little weed is derived from the star-shaped form of its 

 tiny white blossoms, and the common name has been given because of the fondness 

 of all birds, from chickens to canaries, for all parts of the plant, but particularly 

 for its well-filled little seed capsules. Its range extends from the Mexican border 

 nearly to the Arctic Circle, and it is in bloom and sowing its seeds nearly the whole 

 year round. The writer picked a thrifty stem, bearing buds, flowers and seeds, 

 in the month of January, 1910. Its weak, creeping stems are many-branched 

 round, brittle, jointed, and marked with hairy ridges; the tiny pointed, oval 

 leaves are so numerous that the plant covers the ground like a green mat ; and in 

 their axils and in forking clusters at the end of every stem are set the wee, white 

 stars of flowers; each of the five snowy petals is cleft down its center, and the 

 white star is set within a larger green one of five long, pointed sepals, joined at 

 their bases. 



The Chickweed came to us from Europe, probably with the finst settlers, and 

 ever since has gone with the white man wherever he has planted a garden. Yet 

 it is not an aggressive weed and we do not dislike it as we do the "pusley." It 



