Rural School Leaflet 



1037 



Common 

 plantain 



Burdock 



Ragweed 



1. Common, or broad-leaved, plantain is found in lawns and 

 gardens. It grows close to the ground and has large broad leaves 

 and long upright seed stalks. It lives year after year and 

 must be cultivated out or dug out in order to be controlled. 



2. Burdock is familiar to all boys and girls. It is found 

 around buildings and sometimes in fields or orchards. It 

 lives two years, producing seed the second season, and can be 

 killed by cutting off the plants below the ground before seeds 

 are produced. 



3. Ragweed is the most serious weed in newly seeded 

 meadows, and while it lives only one year, it is difficult to 

 control because the seeds w411 keep alive a long time in the 

 soil. They will remain dormant until the ground is plowed 

 again and will then spring up. No plants should be allowed 

 to go to seed. 



4. Pigweed, or redroot, is ver^^^ persistent in cultivated crops. 

 It can be distinguished by its rosy pink root and small, shiny, 

 black seeds. It can be controlled by cultivation of the soil 

 where it is prevalent and by pulling. 



5. Beggar-ticks, while not a common weed, is one easily 

 remembered for its curiously shaped seeds, which sometimes 

 cause trouble in the wool of sheep. 



Plants are arranged in three groups according to their 

 length of life. Some start from seed in the sj^ring, grow 

 during the summer, produce seed, and then die. Their 

 life is completed within one year, and they are there- 

 fore known as annual plants. Of the five weeds 

 mentioned on this page, ragweed, redroot, and beggar-ticks 

 are annuals. 



A second group of plants takes two years to produce 

 seed, and plants of this group are called biennial. During 

 the first year of growth a rosette-like cluster of leaves is 

 formed close to the ground, and this lives over winter. 

 The second year a seed stalk is produced from the center 

 of the rosette, and then the whole plant dies. The burdock 

 mentioned above belongs in the biennial group, as do also 

 the familiar mullein and the wild carrot. 



The third group of plants lives for more than two years 



and produces seed season after season. These plants are r, ,- , 

 ^ ^ Beggar-ticks 



called perennial, or hardy. There are many examples of p^^^ ^^^g ^^^^^^ 

 this group among the weeds, the common plantain being natural size and 

 one of them. '""^^ ''^'"'^''^ 



Redroot, 

 pigweed 



